Naruto - Romance Dawn
by raidensokwl
Summary: A seemingly lasting peace has finally come across the Elemental Nations for the first time in years, but wary of dangers beyond the continent itself, Kakashi dispatches Naruto to travel and learn about the world and see whether the world holds anything for the people of the Elemental Nations to be wary of.
1. Romance Dawn

**Alright, One Piece/Naruto x-over, I'm not going to lie, I took some minor liberties (I think) when it came to the canon of both mangas, but then again, isn't that fanfiction? Taking fiction by itself and changing it to suit your very whim? Well I did, but I hope I didn't do any major changes, just minor things.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece. Frankly, I don't own anything in general, even this laptop. FML.**

* * *

"You know we have to go back to Konoha sometime right?" Naruto asked as he sat in the outdoor portion of a café, vacantly stirring the cup of coffee that was in front of him as the sounds of the sea could be heard clearly from the seaside that was only several meters away, "Seriously? Are you actually going to ignore me Shika?" Naruto continued to speak after waiting for several moments without a reply to his question.

He was finally answered when a grumble could be heard from his fellow ninja who was sitting opposite him, head laid lazily on the coffee table in a bid to take a nap, "We aren't supposed to be back from our mission for a couple of days," Shikamaru yawned as he moved his head about as he tried to get comfortable, "There's no rush Naruto, we can take our time."

At 19 years of age, Naruto looked almost like a dead ringer for his father apart from the whisker-like birthmarks that adorned his cheeks. He was now taller and he was dressed in a black uniform-style zip-up jacket with several buttons on the waist and sleeves that was rolled up on the left side, whilst left as it was on the right to cover up his bandaged right hand, with a red armband with the Uzumaki spiral on the left arm, orange pants and black boot-like sandals. Finishing off his attire was a black headband that was tied around his forehead to keep away his spiky locks of hair away from his eyes.

"We always take our time with you." Naruto returned with a snort as he turned to face the sea and watch the passing ships that either made their way to dock into the harbour or sail away into the distance, the cup of coffee he had ordered being forgotten for the time being.

Shikamaru peered open a lone, lazy eye to look dully at his friend, "And yet you decided to drag me on this mission. Who's fault is that then?"

Apart from a more mature appearance, Shikamaru's appearance hadn't changed much. He still had his black hair done up into a pineapple like ponytail and was dressed in the new Konoha shinobi attire that consisted of a simplified Konoha flak jacket that only had one pocket and dark coloured clothes underneath with black sandals much like Naruto's.

"Hey, don't turn this on me you lazy bastard."

Shikamaru would have had a small victorious grin on his lips if it wasn't for the fact that it would have required too much effort on his part to move his lips in such a manner. So he just closed his open eye and went back to taking the nap that had been well overdue over the past couple of days.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get anything more out of his fellow shinobi, Naruto just sighed and let the silence come over them as he continued to stare in the direction of the sea, some part of his brain idly counting which ships were going for port and which were leaving port in a bid to alleviate the boredom that was slowly working its way into his mood.

It had been two years since the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, and for probably the first time since the founding of the Hidden Villages, people could think of the future and the thought of war would be somewhere in the back of their minds. That was how peaceful it was.

The constant one up-man ship that had been between the hidden villages was slowly coming to an end. Having fought together for the freedom of all humanity from the delusions of Madara and Kaguya, past grievances and grudges were washed away in a battle for their very own survival. And with the war coming to an end, with the five major powers weak from the war, they started relying on each other to keep the world balance lest another war quickly replace the previous one as minor villages make bids for power themselves.

Even though one of the main reasons why ninjas had existed, the constant shadow of war hanging over them had disappeared for the time being, ninjas themselves were still needed in the world to take care of various tasks and missions asked of them.

Someone had to take care of the occasional bandits, pirates among various other villanous people in the world and other jobs that ninja would be needed to hire to take care off.

And speaking of pirates, "Say Shika..."

"What?"

"Those ships in the distance," Naruto said slowly as he squinted his eyes, "What do they look like to you?"

An annoyed sounding grunt came from Shikamaru who was still resting his head on the table, "I'm not going to ship watch with you Naruto. I have better things to do."

Naruto rolled his eyes. When it came to priorities, Shikamaru seriously had his in the wrong order, "I'm serious about this Shika," The blonde ninja said, his voice having a weight to it, "Seriously, I don't really know what to make of them."

Hearing the seriousness in Naruto's tone, Shikamaru finally opened his eyes and pulled his head away from the table. He blinked a few times to clear up his vision from the blurry mess that it was, "Alright, I'm up. What is so important about these ships anyway?" The dark-haired ninja asked as he followed Naruto's line of sight to look off into the distance, "...And the answer to your earlier question Naruto, they sort of look like pirate ships," Shikamaru drawled, his attention fully on the three ships that were making their way quickly in their direction, "Yeah, I think they're pirate ships."

Shikamaru's blonde teammate merely nodded his head as his initial thoughts about the ships were proven correct by Shikamaru himself, "I thought so. I will admit that I've never seen pirate ships like those though."

They were...weird for a better lack of term. They looked more like warships than pirate ships and even then, Naruto doubted that there was any kind of warship that had even as much armour and weapons the ship was spotting. And how large were those forward cannons? Clearly someone had been trying to compensate for something.

***BOOM!***

The sound of cannon fire echoed from the direction of the ships as smoke escaped the nuzzles of the three ships forward batteries and with the sound of cannon fire disappearing into the background, a whistling sound could be heard before an explosion rang out somewhere along the coastline which was followed by screams and the sounds of a building/s collapsing.

Shikamaru had to suppress a twitch of his eyebrow as he saw the incoming ships fire another volley, "...I've never dealt with pirates before, but I can honestly say I hate them." It just had to be his luck to be caught up in a pirate raid wouldn't it? And knowing his partner...

Naruto immediately shot to his feet, "Come on Shika, we've got work to do!" He yelled as he made a beeline in the direction of the ships, to the untrained eye, Naruto was nothing more than a black and orange blur as he raised towards the ships before they could do anymore damage to the port town that he had been relaxing in a few moments prior.

Well, if Naruto can be counted on anything was that he was pretty consistent with his actions. It would never sit well with him to just sit aside and see harm come to good people if he could do anything about it.

Actually, Shikamaru was rather sure that even if Naruto couldn't do anything about it, he would still do something in order to help someone else. He was just a good guy in general, a sometimes annoyingly good guy.

Shikamaru just sat in his seat watching Naruto race down the beach before reaching the water and run atop it before sighing and getting to his feet, "Nothing can ever be simple with Naruto can it?" He mumbled to himself as he followed after his teammate.

XxX

Standing at the bow of the ship, a dark haired man with an eye patch had a gleam in his eyes as he stared hard at the town that he and his crew were soon to be upon. Wherever this place was, it was a gold mine. He had heard stories about a place where the World Government and Marines were non-existent from some merchants back in familiar seas, but he had always discarded them as gibberish.

But he had to re-evaluate that thought when that bastard Krieg started going around press ganging any crew into his fleet of ships. Rumour had it that he planned on going to the Grand Line.

No way.

That was suicide as far as he and many on his crew thought. So he paid heed to the previous gibberish he had laughed off and taken off with his own ships to the back end of East Blue and after suffering from severe storms and nearly finishing all their supplies among other hardships, he could say that he was rather glad he had taken heed of those stories.

He had already been here for less than a month and he had raided and looted more towns and ships than he ever thought he could if he had been back in East Blue. He could already picture a pirate empire with him at the head off.

One of his underlings ran up to him, "Captain, we'll soon be in harbour in ten or so minutes."

The gleam in the captain's eyes brightened some more as a cruel, toothy grin came across his face as he rubbed his hands together, "Hehe, excellent. Get the men ready and signal the other boats-." He was stopped speaking when he heard the sounds of fighting in between the lulls of the cannon fire. He turned his head in the direction of the fighting only to see one of the ships in his three man flotilla go up in an explosion, "What the hell?"

The captain watched with a slack jaw as more explosion, smaller than first went throughout the ship. The fiery spectacle had not only attracted his attention, but the attention of his crew who had stopped doing their jobs to also watch the ship go down in explosions.

They continued to watch as smoke rose up into the sky and from the smoke, a blur shot out in the direction of their ship before the other ship finally sank after one large explosion. Seeing the blur come at them, the man scattered thinking that it was a cannon ball that had been accidentally set off in the explosions.

The blur crashed, more along the lines of landed right in the middle of the deck to reveal a young man, barely older than twenty with some of an easy grin on his face as he looked around whilst dusting himself off.

The captain was the first of the pirates to get his head together and boldly stepped up, a cutlass drawn from its scabbard, "Who the hell are you?"

Naruto turned his attention towards the man who had spoken, "You the captain?" The blonde mercenary asked as he ignored the question that had been directed towards him.

A tick mark formed on the dark-haired pirates brow, "I asked you a question, you scally wag. Who the hell are you and what are you doing on my ship?"

The blonde haired ninja gave the man a squint eyed look, "Isn't it obvious? I'm going to blow your ship up of course." He said with a grin on his face, "Can't have you shooting off cannon balls at random townsfolk now can't we? And seriously," He thumbed in the direction of the forward cannons, "What the hell man? Couldn't you make them _any_ bigger?"

By now, the other pirates had drawn their own weapons that consisted of sabers, cutlasses, pistols and rifles. With a confident look on his face, the captain pointed his own weapon in Naruto's direction, "Get him!"

With one large battle cry, the pirates all rushed Naruto who didn't look at all deterred that he was outnumbered and outgunned. All he did was simply crack his knuckles before seconds later, the deck of the ship was filled with the sprawled out forms of groaning and pained pirates that had been knocked about senselessly by the blonde.

Naruto turned his attention back to the captain who had watched everything with wide-eyes, "What the hell are you?"

"Me?" Naruto asked as he pointed to himself, "Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha Jounin and ninja extra-ordinaire, the best damned ninja you're ever going to meet and future Nanadaime Hokage at your service and ready to deliver an ass-kicking." He turned his attention back towards the captain with a curious look on his face, "Now who the hell are you? I've never seen pirates, that are so blatantly open about being...pirates," He pointed to the top of the mast where a Jolly Roger was freely breezing about, "I mean, you even have that out in the open, are you guys idiots?"

The pirates Naruto knew were smarter than that. They knew that if they attracted too much attention, they would garner the attention of the officials who would more than likely dispatch ninjas after them. And in a ninjas vs pirates fight, ninjas would always win. That's how it was.

The captain with visible sweat on his face didn't answer Naruto's question, but instead proposed to scream at the top of his lungs before rushing towards the blonde, wildly swinging his blade from side to side.

Naruto merely side-stepped the man whilst leaving out a foot that he tripped over and ended up hitting one of the masts face first. The ninja didn't even spare a wince at the pirate's ending, even as he slowly slumped down to the ground unmoving, "Well..." The blonde drawled slowly, "That was anti-climatic. How did yours go?" He asked to seemingly no-one in particular.

"Troublesome as ever," Shikamaru's voice rang out as he came to a stop beside Naruto, looking down at the body of the captain with his usual placid expression, "If I knew you were going to leave one ship and crew intact, I would have just blown up mine. Would have saved me the trouble of capturing everyone."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Seriously, you're really lazy, you know that right? I wonder how Temari puts up with you."

Shikamaru turned his head to look at Naruto, "...Whatever you're trying to say, don't even start."

Naruto grinned as he swung his hands behind his head and linked them together, "I don't really know why you try to hide it Shika. Everybody knows there's something going on between you two." A twinkle came into his eyes as he turned his head slightly to look at Shikamaru, "_Even_ Gaara. But don't worry, I put in several good words for you." The blonde said with a large grin on his face as he patted his friends shoulder.

"...You better have."

XxX

(A Week Later - Konoha)

There was a reason why he never wanted this job to begin with. Even when he had somehow managed to get a reputation as one of Konoha's best jounin and ninja in general, he never made any serious waves about the job. He could come up with hundreds of reasons why he never took on the job of Hokage, but the most prevalent reason would come to the forefront of his mind quicker than the rest;

It just didn't suit him.

That was all their was to it. Sure, he was a powerful ninja in his own right and the right person for the job according to many people's own opinions about the matter, but the thing is, it just wasn't him and he doubted he was actually worthy enough for the task of protecting the village with his particular track record.

It also seriously cut into his reading time.

But then again, the decision had been made and the baton had been passed on to him by his predecessor. That had been something of a surprise, he had been rather sure Tsunade would keep the job until a certain blonde haired kid had gotten enough experience underneath him for the job, hell, he was sure that she would have taken the front role seat when it came to grooming him for the job.

Speaking of a certain blonde haired brat that should have been seating on this particular side of the desk.

"Naruto," Kakashi cheerfully greeted, which somehow didn't sound that cheerful in retrospect. In fact, the tone of his voice sounded rather bored than anything else, "How would you like to take a break and go travelling? See the world and everything. You know, sow those wild oats of yours." He finished off with a Kakashi classic of wrinkling his now two visible eyes, into two eye smiles.

Kakashi hadn't really changed in two years appearance terms, even though the only difference now was that he was the Hokage. He wore a dark coloured version of the Konoha ninja attire, with the flak jacket changed into that of a simple chest guard with clipped on shoulder pads with high collars with a dark blue wrap around his waist and a pouch on his backside. His headband was tied around his forehead, this time, not even covering any eyes since he didn't have to conserve chakra anymore due to the loss of the Sharingan.

Naruto stood on the other side of the desk, blinking for a few moments as he took in what his old jounin sensei had just said. It took a while, but eventually he squinted his eyes slightly at his old teacher, "...What?"

The older male's eye smile never left his eyes as he continued to blast Naruto with it, "You heard me. Travel the world, sow some wild oats, stuff like that."

"So I _didn't_ miss hear you then." Naruto said as he gave his commander-in-chief a dull look, "I can't believe you just said that." Who said an idiom like that nowadays anyway? Out loud to begin with? He only knew of it because for better or for worse, he had been under the influence of the world's greatest pervert for his formative teenage years. Naruto crossed his arms, trying to give a stern look to his old teacher, "I really hope you didn't call me hear just to say that to me."

Kakashi dropped his eye smiles as he relaxed into his seat, still giving his old student an amicable expression, "Of course not, I wouldn't waste both our times like that. We're both very busy people," He stopped and looked at Naruto for quiet a long amount of time, "...Well one of us anyway."

"I take offence at that."

"I know, that why I said it." Kakashi brightly returned before his demeanour took on a slightly more serious countenance. Well, as serious as Kakashi could get if it wasn't a life or death battle, "But seriously Naruto, have you actually thought about travelling?"

Confused at this line of question again, Naruto just quirked an eyebrow in curiosity and confusion, "I travel all the time Kakashi-sensei. You do know that being a ninja involves a lot of travelling right?" He finished off with a rhetorical question that had some sarcasm laced into it.

"I know that Naruto. I have been a ninja for the better part of three decades." Kakashi said as he shifted in seat to move towards one of the drawers of his desk, "But just because you've been everywhere in the Elemental Nations doesn't mean you've seen the world Naruto." He finished off as he pulled out a scroll from the drawer and placed it on the table in front of him before rolling it gently to the other side.

"Okay, is this some sort of riddle thing? Because I have no idea what you're trying to say Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said as he placed his arms in his pockets.

Kakashi sighed before directing him towards the scroll placed in front of him, "I've got a mission for you Naruto. Some would say of grave importance, me?" He just shrugged as if that would be enough for an answer on his own opinion on the matter, "It's S-rank, if we had a higher classification, it probably would be the first of that classification. Not that I want to put any weight on your shoulders of how important this mission is, but it involves the future of the Elemental Nations at stake."

By now, the blonde haired, blue eyed ninja had his entire attention on the scroll in front of him and to what Kakashi was telling him, "Aren't you being a little grave their Kakashi-sensei? It's not like the moon is falling to the Earth." He joked somewhat as he picked up the scroll and unfurled it to read its content.

"Yeah," Kakashi drawled slowly as he gave his student the usual placid expression of his, "Don't say that. Knowing your luck, someone will probably try to do that." He then noticed Naruto's eyes widen slightly as his eyes roamed over the mission scroll in his hands, "Like I said Naruto, how do you feel about travelling the world?"

Naruto shook his head as he lowered the scroll, "This can't be right." He said, voice filled with various tones of disbelief, "You want me to go around the _world_? Not just the continent, but _the _world?"

Kakashi nodded his head, "Yeah, pretty much." He replied rather glibly and with a certain amount of stark bluntness that came natural to him, "Don't worry about the minor details like the hows, we already settled that."

"We?" The surprised blonde teen asked with a quirked eyebrow, "Who's we?"

"The Kages of course." Kakashi replied with an eye smile, "Along with the approval of our respective daimyos. They're rather curious at what lies beyond this little mud of rock among other things."

A frown came onto Naruto's face as he looked down at the document in his hands, "But why now?"

The face mask wearing ninja sighed as he leaned into the back of his seat, "Because for better or for worse, the people of this continent are pretty ignorant of the rest of the world." Kakashi said with stark bluntness to that statement about the peoples of the Elemental Nations, "Because we've always dealt with each other, our 'world' only consisted of this continent. We never actually thought of what lay beyond these waters or on this planet in general."

"That didn't exactly answer my question." Naruto pointed out with a deadpan expression.

"Really? I thought it did." Kakashi just found himself on the end of a look from Naruto, causing him to crinkle his eyes into smiles to placate his former student, "Well, I guess it would be because a stable peace is now forming on the continent and we now don't have to worry about the other ninja villages." And when that truth had hit them, it resulted in them having to wonder if they had anything to worry about from beyond the waters of this particular continent. Who knew what was out in the world? Maybe somewhere, their was a foreign power that could ruin the peace that the continent had worked and fought for, and sacrificed so much for. Kakashi then proceeded to shrug his shoulders, "Something like that. Let's just say that we just want to...broaden our horizons."

"And I'm the right person for this mission?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, "If its about diplomacy, I'm sure you could find some far more qualified than me." When one thought of diplomacy, Uzumaki Naruto's name was nowhere near the top of the list. He would more than likely end up instigating something rather than solving anything. This sounded more like something Shikamaru would be useful in.

"I didn't say it was a diplomacy mission Naruto," Kakashi chided light heartedly, "I said it was a scouting mission. It's indefinite because we don't exactly know how long it will take for you to travel the world. Plus anyway, if you feel like you've learned enough, you can just use the Hiraishin to come back," He noticed the twitch of the eyebrow that came onto Naruto's face when the Hiraishin was mentioned. Kakashi couldn't help but be amused by it, "Still haven't mastered it yet?"

"I keep crashing into stuff." How did his dad, let alone the Nidaime Hokage ever learn to use such a jutsu? Some might say that the fact that he was able to use the jutsu itself made him more than accomplished, but he didn't think so. He always landed in a ten feet radius of where the kunai was located, and that was if he was able to lock on to it in the first place. It was all hit and miss with him, "I don't even know why I wanted to learn that stupid jutsu anyway."

"I believe it was because it looked 'cool'," Kakashi chimed in with some mirth evident in his voice. What couldhe say? It was always amusing using the three-pronged kunai in his possession to summon the blonde so that he would only witness him crash into something when he teleported in, "Or something like that."

"So am I allowed to pick a team or is this a solo thing?"

Kakashi didn't need to ask Naruto what he was talking about to know that the blonde had gone back to the original conversational topic, "If you want too. They have to at least be chunin in rank, who knows what you might find out there in the big bad world?"

Naruto sighed as he pocketed the mission scroll, "Alright then, I might as well go think out my options huh?" He said as he turned for the door, "Later Kakashi-sensei." He finished off with a wave of the hand behind him as he closed the door behind him.

Kakashi sighed as he relaxed into his seat. He knew very well that Naruto wouldn't decline the mission at hand, even if he had been rather hard headed about it at the beginning asking the questions if he was the most suitable person for the job, even though in truth Naruto really was the most suitable for it.

And anyway, this mission had been in the making for over twenty years. It was just that it seemed like a suitable time to implement it would never happen. Konoha had to worry about more immediate and tangible threats they could handle rather than intangible ones from across the seas that would or would not attack their home.

Frankly, as far as he was concerned, this was all Minato and Jiraiya's fault for picking a fight with those mysterious pirates over twenty years ago.

XxX

(With Naruto)

Shikamaru? No.

Shikamaru was a no go. Much to the lazy ninja's eternal ire, he was still being groomed to replace his father as the head of the Nara clan and the Jounin Commander. And the pineapple haired ninja might complain a lot about his luck in life, he wouldn't like the idea of being taken away from his duties for a mission that could probably take more than a couple of a months, maybe a year even.

Sakura? Once again, the answer would have to be no. As much as he would love to have his old teammate go with him for this mission, she had her own duties to take care-off, especially now since she was a medic of Tsunade's calibre. She would be needed at the hospital now more than ever.

Naruto sighed as he lounged into his stool at Ichiraku Ramen. For the better part of an hour, he had been sitting in the ramen stand whilst at the same time, going through all of his former classmates about who to take on this particular mission.

As he mentally went down his lists of friends, he couldn't think of anyone that would have the free time to actually go along with this mission. Well, he could think of one other person who might be more than interested in the mission, but he was a little bit difficult to track down since he never particularly stayed in one place, instead, choosing to wander around the continent.

The more time that went on, the more that he thought struck that he was going to carry out this particular mission alone. He didn't mind, but he would have at least liked to have someone he knew and trusted to come with him and have his back in case things weren't south and by now knowing his luck, things weren't south more often than not.

The sound of the stands' drapes being moved to the side to signify a new customer rang filtered into Naruto's ears, "What are you thinking about so much about boss?"

Naruto sighed as he drooped down onto the counter and laid his head down, "Urgh, just stuff. You wouldn't understand."

The stool beside him was taken by the new arrival who spoke as he sat down, "I wish you would stop thinking me a kid boss, I'm 15 years old." The person said with a rather childish whine to their voice.

"You're whining Konohamaru," Naruto said with mirth in his voice, "I think that makes you still kind of count as a child."

"You suck boss." Konohamaru muttered as he made his order to the brunette haired ramen waitress on the other side of the counter, "A miso ramen please Ayame-nee."

Wait a second...Konohamaru? He trusted Konohamaru and he was confident that the younger teenager would gladly follow him to the ends of hell and back. Not to mention that the younger boy was more than powerful enough in his own right. He hadn't reached his peak yet, but he would still be more than troublesome to anyone who fought him.

With a grin slowly appearing on his face, Naruto lifted his head to face the younger boy who looked up to him and considered himself his right hand man. Konohamaru raised a curious eyebrow as he looked at Naruto, "...You're sorta scaring me boss." He said uneasily, not liking the look he was receiving from his older brother like figure.

After two years Konohamaru now wore a grey and black zip-up jacket without his usual blue scarf that he always wore back in his younger days, dark grey pants and the new standard boot-like sandals of Konoha shinobi, bandages around his arms and a black headband tied around his forehead. He had cut his hair shorter but had allowed his side bangs to grow longer in length to frame his face.

"Kono," Naruto said slowly, deliberately shortening Konohamaru's name to the more affectionate Kono he had devised earlier in their relationship.

Konohamaru raised an eyebrow as he looked at his idol, "Yes boss?"

"Are you busy for the next, let's say..." Naruto trailed off as he thought about it before speaking once more, "I don't know, couple of months, year?"

The young, dark haired ninja was confused by the question but answered nonetheless, "No, I don't think so. Why do you ask?" He didn't have any sort of particular duty he had to attend to, but why would Naruto ask him if he was free for the next foreseeable future? That was just strange.

"How would you like to go on a mission with me? A super-important mission?" The older ninja asked with a grin on his face, knowing he had already managed to snag the younger man due to the simple fact that it was a mission with him. But just to be on the safe side, he leaned in closer to the younger boys' ear, "P.S. it's an S-rank mission that involves the future of the continent."

And just like that, Konohamaru was ready to sign himself up for whatever mission Naruto was ready to bring him along too, "When do we leave?"

Naruto just grinned as he patted the young Sarutobi's shoulders, "That's my boy." From the other side of the counter, Ayame couldn't help but shake her head in amusement at the scene. Someone had a little bit of too much faith in the wrong sort of role model.

XxX

(Couple of Months Later)

After managing to convince Konohamaru to come along with him on his world trip, Naruto had gone back to Kakashi to get the full scope of details about how this mission was going to run. The scroll he had been given was nothing more than a summary at best that even had a note that he should go back to Kakashi for the full information.

From Kakashi, the blonde ninja had learned that the first obstacle to his mission was leaving the continent altogether. Fortunately for them, a port town in Mizu no Kuni, for the past couple of decades had seen irregular trade with merchants that weren't native to this stretch of the world. All Naruto had to do was find one of these merchants and pay for passage to wherever they were going to return to sell their goods.

Of course, Kakashi had also failed to go into more detail about how irregular the merchants were in terms of when they came to the port town. It wasn't like any of the other merchants native to that part of town or the continent in general ever deigned to leave the safety of the known continent to travel further than they or someone else from the continent had ever travelled before.

But as luck would have it, Naruto and Konohamaru had arrived in town just as one particular merchant ship was finishing up gathering supplies for its return journey back to their own lands. With some quick bargaining and show of precious metals of the monetary kind, the two ninjas had managed to batter themselves passage on the boat.

Naruto yawned as he made his way onto the deck, taking a look around and noticing the humdrum of activity as the sailors went about doing their jobs and tasks on the ship. Wanting to be useful when he had been able to secure passage, Naruto and Konohamaru had laid a helping hand to the crew and the various posts on the ship, or in Naruto's case, lending them more than a dozen clones to be used as slaves for the benefit of everyone.

He still had no idea what a 'Devil Fruit' was. All the sailors on the ship had cried it out when he had done his little replication jutsu and Naruto had just gone along with it. When he had tried to explain to them the fundamentals of the jutsu and chakra to stop them thinking he had eaten this 'Devil Fruit' all he had received was blank stares. That had been his cue to just say 'fuck it, I ate a Devil Fruit', they seemed to understand that easily enough even though the resident two shinobi on the ship had no idea what it was.

"Anyone need help?" Naruto asked as he looked around the deck. It wouldn't hurt to create a couple more clones to help out with the crew, it at least gave him experience on how to man every station on the ship in the off-chance he somehow found himself with his own ship.

"Nah, we're fine here lad." One of the sailors said as he walked past, bundles of rope in his hands, "We can't be relying on your clones to do our share of work now can we? This is how we earn our pay."

Naruto shrugged as he nodded, "Alright then," The blonde said before jumping up the tallest mast before coming to a stop at the crow's nest, "Having fun Kono?" The blonde ninja asked with an easy smile on his face as he looked down at the younger ninja.

Konohamaru peeked open a brown eye to look at his idol, "Oh I am," The younger ninja said as he shifted around to get even more comfortable, "If I was a sailor, I would so choose this as my posting. It's just an excuse to be lazy."

Naruto grinned as he had done his fair share of work manning this particular spot, "I know. It's just a big excuse to be a lazy bastard," Even though the crow's nest was supposed to serve as a sentry, they had seen nothing but water for the past three months, "Shikamaru would have loved this." After he was done with this, he was so going to brag about this to the lazy ninja.

The dark-haired Sarutobi merely nodded his head in agreement with that outlook, "I wouldn't mind getting back on dry land though. It would be nice to touch some solid ground once more." He yawned as he sat up in the crow's nest, "How long are we supposed to remain at sea for anyway?"

"Hm, the navigator says that we'll be hitting our first sign of land in East Blue soon enough."

"How soon is 'soon enough'?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders at the question. He didn't really have an answer for that, and he didn't want to pry with the navigator to be more specific about his time recording, "Don't really know. Soon I guess."

Konohamaru rolled his eyes before deciding to at least pay attention to his job for the moment, "So what's our next course of action after we reach dry land?"

He didn't need to look at Naruto to know that the blonde had a sheepish expression on his face. He doubted that he had actually thought that far ahead, it seemed they were going along the lines of making it up as they weren't along in terms of planning this entire journey around the world.

"Probably look around, get our bearings then look to move on." Naruto said after thinking it over for a bit. From what he had heard from the navigator, the world was primarily filled with islands, thousands of them. The only other noticeable mass of land being the Red Line, that apparently stretched right around the world to create a ring of some sort, "We're going to need a ship, or charter another ship."

"We'll need money for that," They couldn't go around offering any more other materials that people would find valuable to trade. They actually didn't have anymore of such materials.

Naruto laughed lightly at that admission, "Yeah I guess. We'll come up with something." He then lamely raised his finger and pointed into the distance, "Oh look, land."

Konohamaru turned his attention in the direction that Naruto was pointing too and squinted slightly as he strained his eyes to see into the distance, "Huh, the navigator was right after all." He mumbled loud enough to be heard by Naruto as he looked onto the island in the distance.

"Seems like it," Naruto then turned around to look at the helm of the ship were the captain and navigator were located at, "Hey captain, land a-hoy!" He shouted at the man before blinking for several moments, "I said it right, right?"

The captain flashed a thumbs up at the blonde, "That you did lad!" He acknowledged before turning his attention to the rest of the crew, "You had the young lad, land ahoy boys! Get moving!"

"I wish he would stop calling me 'young lad'," The blonde haired ninja grumbled as he took a seat on the edges of the crow's nest, "I mean, I'm like twenty this year. I'm an adult goddammit."

"Yes boss," Konohamaru drawled as he proped his head up with his arm by the railings of the nest, "Just keep whining like that, and I'm sure you'll convince people you are an adult in no time."

"I don't appreciate the sarcasm Konohamaru." Naruto remarked off-handedly before noticing something in the distance. It was another ship that heading full speed towards the island, "What a weird looking ship." It was various shades of purple in colour and head a dragon for a figurehead and was finished off with black masts.

Konohamaru by this point had brought out the telescope for a better look, "Uh boss, that's a pirate ship," The young ninja informed the older one, "And by the looks of it, its gunning straight for that island. I don't think it takes much of a genius to tell what's going to happen next."

Naruto frowned slightly as he thought about it, "I guess not." He turned his head to look back at the captain of the ship, "Hey cap, me and Konohamaru hear will be getting of your ship for a bit. Got to take care of some minor hiccups."

"What?" Both Konohamaru and the captain said in surprise and astonishment. The captain then proceeded to watch as Naruto grabbed Konohamaru by his collar and then jump down to the waters below, "Men overboard!" It took him a while before he was finally able to get that cry out.

The sailors rushed towards the side Naruto had just jumped down to with Konohamaru in tow, ready to jump in after the youths before they were given sight to a strange sight of two blurs running atop the water moving in the direction of the island.

"You could have at least warned me you were going to do that!" They had heard Konohamaru's voice cry out from the distance.

"Now where would the fun be in that?"

XxX

(On The Island)

On the island that Naruto and Konohamaru had seen, the people of one of the islands villages were panicking about what to do. They had seen the pirate ship coming towards them and the more worldly villagers who knew about the goings and happenings of the world had immediately recognised the Jolly Roger the pirate ship was flying.

It belonged to a notorious pirate called 'Crescent Moon' Galley, a scoundrel of the seas who had been gaining some notoriety lately.

Currently, the villagers were having something of an emergency meeting about what to do as the pirate ship continued to make its way towards them, "Village head, what do we do?" One of the villagers asked frantically, sweat visible on his face.

The village head, a man with a rather peculiar hair style looked on at his fellow villagers with as much courage as he could muster, "This is a small village. If this is their aim, then I believe handing over our valuables is the safest option. But...!"

"But handing over our valuables to protect the village," One of the villagers interjected with a tense tone to his voice, "Is just repeating history. It's unbearable to keep on giving up our money!"

"But opposing them is too reckless!"

"What are you worrying about?" A new, feminine voice filled with confidence, in comparison to the rest of the other villagers cut into the debate, "We should fight!"

The voice belonged to a tall slim girl with long blonde hair that was tied into a low hanging ponytail and brown eyes. She was dressed in a simple attire of a blue t-shirt, green and white shorts and dark coloured boots. In her hands, she held a slightly ornamental looking sword.

"Silk!" One of the villagers cried out at seeing the confident looking girl, "You shut up." All of the villagers said in near unison as they turned their backs on her to continue their discussion.

"Don't ignore me!" She shouted at the group of villagers, a noticeable vein of anger on her face, "I'm a citizen of this village too!" Jeez, why did no-one take her seriously at all?

"If you get involved in this, it will become nothing more than a big disaster."

"Please just stay out of this!"

Silk didn't particularly like to hear her fellow villagers admonish her and let alone try to convince her to just bow down to the will of people that would harm her village, "Why do we have bow down to them? I'm against it!" She said with passion in her voice.

The mayor of the town had a grave and darkened look on his face, "Anyway, I'm against such a thing!" He declared, a grave look on his face, "I'll try talking to them whilst a few of us stay here and the others take refuge in the village."

XxX

(Moments Later)

Naruto stood at the bow at the bow of the pirate ship as it pulled into port with Konohamaru standing beside him, "Hm," The blonde hummed as he looked at the empty streets of the village, "This place looks like a ghost town." He noted absently, and to accentuate his observation even more, a blow of wind passed through the area.

"Maybe we should have taken down the Jolly Roger." Konohamaru suggested from beside him, "The villagers might have seen it, thought pirates and ran for the hills." It was the most sensible thing to do if their wasn't some sort of town guard or militia to protect the place. Most places back in the continent that didn't have that luxury had shelters for such occasions deeper into the land.

But the villagers hadn't ran for the hills. Instead they were all camped within the village, not really doing a good job of hiding if that was their aim.

"But we're not pirates."

"They don't know that."

Unknown to the two Konoha shinobi, they were both being watched by the entirety of the townsfolk, who were rather unsure of what they were seeing. The Jolly Rodger on the ship they had arrived on clearly identified the ship as that belonging to 'Crescent Moon' Galley, but yet they could only see two teenagers that simply didn't have any sort of connection to the man by the looks of it, even the Galley's well known beard.

From a window of a nearby building, Silk looked on at the two ninja with a curious expression, "They don't look that tough."

The mayor blinked as he stared at the same sight as the rest of the townsfolk, "Why are there only two people coming out?"

Back on the ship, Naruto had had enough of a look around and decided that it was probably best to go and introduce themselves, "Come on, let's go say hi or something like that, we can just leave them scared out of their minds." Konohamaru nodded his head and prepared himself to jump down to the ground below along with Naruto.

"Bastards!" The two ninjas stopped and turned their heads around back to the ship to look at the source of the voice. The source was a middle aged man of average height but who was slightly stocky in physique who's most distinguishing feature was the strange crescent like beard that he spotted. He wore a typical captains attire, even as he was tied around with two of his crew. This pirate was none other than 'Crescent Moon' Galley himself, "Just who do you think you I am!? Don't think you'll get away with this!"

Naruto absently picked his ear as he listened to the man rant, "Man, he's loud."

"I just let down my guard! I lost because my guard was down! Wait, what!?" He quickly started revising his previous statement as he continued to shout at them with noticeable anger in his voice and features, "I didn't lose, as if I could lose idiot!"

Konohamaru and Naruto shared a dull look between them before going back to the pirate, "Then why are you the one tied up instead of us?" The younger of the two ninja asked with an amused smirk on his lips, "I think you lost weird beard."

"That's what you pick out!?" He lowered his head, allowing his features to become shadow even though he never lost the look of anger on his face, "You've done it this time you brats! You've angered and made an enemy of the only person in the world in the world you don't want to make an enemy out of!"

"Ah skipper," One of the tied up pirates beside him spoke up, "They're gone."

"What!?" Galley nearly shrieked as he snapped his head up to see that indeed Naruto and Konohamaru weren't in the same place that he had last seen them in, "I'll kill them!" The tied up pirate yelled to the heavens' as he head butted the pirate who had informed him of their departure.

XxX

(With Naruto &amp; Konohamaru)

"Man he's loud." Naruto idly muttered as he and Konohamaru walked down one of the streets away from the port, "I heard him all the way from here."

Konohamaru stifled a chuckle, but couldn't rid himself of the amused expression that was on his face, "I think he's one of those people who have a bark that's louder than their bite." His eyes panned in the direction of Naruto himself, "There's no way someone like him would be able to defeat you boss, no chance. You're the strongest ever."

Ah, this was one of the reasons why he had brought Konohamaru along with him. With him around, he always had someone who was more than willing to stroke his ego, "Of course I am Konohomaru," Naruto said with a grin on his face as he swung his hands behind his back, interlocking his fingers, "Who do you think I am?"

"The guy who didn't become the Rokudaime Hokage like he said he will."

Naruto faltered in his walk before quickly catching himself and giving a look aimed in Konohamaru's direction, "What the hell Konohamaru?"

The young Sarutobi just grinned, "Kakashi-sama told me that I had to keep your ego in check." He and Naruto then came to a halt when someone appeared in front of them. He had a rather strange looking head cut and seemed to be glaring at them whilst at the same time having something of a hopeful look on his face, "Eh, can we help you weird head guy?"

Naruto just gave Konohamaru a dull look at how he chose to address the villager. Couldn't he come up with another way of addressing the man other than 'weird head guy'? It was like he was asking them to think they were nothing more than juvenile delinquents.

The man gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists, "I am this village's head man!" He declared as he bowed his head slightly, making sure that Naruto and Konohamaru were always within his line of sight, "We'll listen to your demands!"

"...What?" Konohamaru and Naruto both let out dumbly, "I think there's been a misunderstanding." The older of the two shinobi said with an uneasy smile on his face, "Yeah, I think there's definitely been a misunderstanding."

"Pirates, prepare yourself!"

Naruto and Konohomaru this time had their attention attracted to the door of a café to the side of them were a blonde girl wield a sword walked out, "Pirates?" Naruto repeated before his eyes widened slightly in realisation, "Oh...they think we're pirates."

Konohamaru nodded his head in a sagely manner as he thought about it, "We did just roll into town on a pirate ship of course."

Silk looked onto the two teenagers in front of her with something of an annoyed look as they continued to talk among themselves. If their was one thing that irked her enough to drive her towards potentially violent actions, was being ignored, she got a lot of that already from the villagers whenever she offered a suggestion during times like this.

"Don't ignore me!" Silk shouted as she quickly drew her sword and leapt at the two boys. She swung her sword in a diagonal swing and landed in a crouch in front of them. She looked up at the two ninjas after noticing that she didn't feel any resistance or anything like that from her attack, "...You dodged?" She asked in disbelief.

"Of course we would dodge!" Konohamaru yelled at her, "Who the hell keeps still when someone swings a sword at you!?" That was just stupid. You might as well have been asking for a death wish.

Silk just looked up at the two of them with wide eyes. They didn't even look like they had dodged at all, they still stood in the same leisurely manner as they had been standing before. Heck, she hadn't even seen them dodge in the first place.

Naruto placed a hand on Konohamaru's shoulder, "Calm down Kono, she was just trying to protect her village from pirates, who she accidentally thought that was us." He cast a friendly toothy grin in Silk's direction, "You're pretty brave you know? I like that."

Silk blinked in confusion, a slight tint of red on her cheeks at the praise, "Eh?"

Naruto didn't notice her blush as he rubbed his chin in thought, "But yeah, we're not pirates."

"You're not?"

"Nop. We're ninja."

"...What now?"

A couple of minutes later, Silk sat in the café she worked watching Naruto and Konohamaru stuff their faces full of food that she had prepared for them. After their initial introductions with each other, the two ninjas had gone about explaining who they were to her and the village head.

She was still trying to get her head around one simple fact, "I can't believe it, you guys are from the 'final continent?'" She asked, voice full of awe at the thought of meeting natives of a continent that she had only heard from merchants talking that had either dared to travel that far into the back-end of East Blue or from those who have heard of the land itself.

She had thought it was nothing more than just a myth spread around by the travellers of the seas.

Now realising that the 'final continent' was the rest of the world's way of referring to the Elemental Continent, Naruto just nodded his head, along with Konohamaru, "Yeah pretty much. That's where we're from."

Silk nodded as she took in this information, "And you're on a journey to travel around the world?"

Once again, Naruto and Konohamaru nodded their heads, "Yeah pretty much." They didn't go into any details as such that their journey was actually a mission entrusted to them to travel and learn as much about the world as possible and see if their was anything in the world that could destabilise the peace that the continent was now finally enjoying.

"Wow, you guys realise you might be something of a novelty to the people of the rest of the world?" She asked with a small, even smile on her face, "The World Government doesn't even have any representatives their yet. It was only discovered several decades ago I hear."

At the mention of this 'World Government' both Naruto and Konohamaru stopped eating to look up at Silk, "World what now?" Konohamaru asked, mouth filled with food much to the chagrin of Silk, although she did well to hide it.

"World Government," Silk repeated herself, "They're the rulers of the world." She finished off with a shrug.

Something about that made Naruto go on edge, he didn't know why, but it did. Maybe it was because of the whole 'rulers of the world' thing. Nobody went on to become ruler of the world without splitting blood, a _lot_ of blood, "Rulers of the world? That's a bit, I don't know, dramatic isn't it?" He said slowly.

Silk merely shrugged her shoulders, "Well, the World Government is compromised of over 170 countries from the four seas and the Grand Line, so they might as well be ruling the world."

"170...!?" Naruto and Konohamaru might as well have had a heart attack then and there. The Elemental Continent just had over twenty countries within its boundaries, and all of them were militarized to a degree. If the Fourth Shinobi War had taught him anything, it was that none of the countries or the people their liked having someone tell them what to do without a fight.

Naruto is the years since the war liked to think that he had grown not only stronger in body but also wiser in mind. He knew that the Five Great Nations along with the Samurai of Tetsu no Kuni were powerful and that the other countries had their own remarkable ninja to call upon, but against an allied army of over 170 countries? They would be crushed.

He honestly hoped that this Word Government kept their eyes well far away from the continent, but an inkling voice in the back of his head that might have been Kurama told him other wise. It told him that with human nature, his wish was very unlikely.

Konohamaru's eyes panned slowly to look at Naruto, "Boss..." He trailed off, his tone rather grave and serious.

"Yeah I know," Naruto said with a sigh, "I'm going to have to tell Kakashi-sensei about this." All of a sudden, this scouting mission had suddenly increased in importance. He would summon a messenger toad later, and he couldn't freak out about this now. Maybe this World Government were a reasonable bunch? He couldn't jump to assumptions with so little information.

Silk noticed the changes in the two supposed ninjas sitting across her, "Hm, what's wrong with you guys?"

Naruto turned his attention back to their gracious host who wasn't even charging them for the food they were eating, "Nothing much. So anyway, what was with that thing with that mayor of yours? The whole giving into our demands?" He asked, quickly changing the subject.

At that subject being brought up, the blonde haired Silk couldn't help but sigh and flop down in her seat, "Ugh, that was the mayor's way of trying to protect the town, by simply giving into the pirates demands." A wry laugh escaped from her lips, "The villagers would rather give up their valuables than fight away pirates because it's the easier option."

Konohamaru raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong with that?" If no-one here knew how to fight, simply paying off the pirates would be a good thing. Hell, it might even mean that no-one would have to die in a fruitless struggle.

Silk quickly shot to her feet, kicking away her chair and slamming her hands onto the table, startling the two ninjas, "Because they deserve better than that! If we simply give in to the pirates, they'll keep coming back and back and back, so on and so on. I can't allow the villagers to suffer something like that!"

"You're really passionate about this place." Naruto idly commented. There was something in her voice that told him that she valued her life much less than the lives of the other villagers, maybe the village itself.

A small smile came across Silk's lips, "Of course, this village is my treasure of course."

"Treasure?"

She nodded her head, "You see, I'm the child of a pirate. An abandoned pirate child," The two males seating across her showed signs of surprise at that admission, "In the past, some pirates raided this village and left me behind as a baby. I'm the child of a pirate that had ravaged this village. They could have held a grudge, you'd think they wouldn't need to feel any pity towards such a child. The people of this village didn't hold such feelings and they raised me here like I was one of their own."

"Heh, that's pretty neat." Konohamaru said with a smirk on his lips, "The villagers are really nice people huh? Not many would do that."

"That's why I don't want to see the villagers of this place with sad faces!" Her gaze as she looked at both ninjas held a determination and strength in them, "Because they're treasured people to me, even if I'm alone, I'll fight. There were pirates on that ship right?"

"Yeah," Naruto said slowly as he got up from his seat, along with Konohamaru, "But we beat him and his crew up. Then we tied them up, so you don't really have to worry about that." He finished off as they made for the exit.

Silk faltered in her steps, "What, you two beat Galley up!?" She asked quickly as she ran after them to catch up.

Konohamaru cast a grin in the direction of the girl, "Yeah, we're pretty strong you know." He said as the trio exited the café.

"I won't forgive you, you insect gathering bastard!" A very familiar, loud and angry voice announced, causing the trio of teenagers to stop and look in the direction of the owner, "The man who can even make a crying child shut up, Galley is me!"

Silk immediately recognised the man due to his rather peculiar and unique facial hair, "Galley!?" Although the fact that he had introduced himself could have helped a bit.

"...I'm pretty sure we tied him up." Naruto said dryly, a small amount of irritation in his voice at having to deal with him again.

"Not tight enough apparently." Konohamaru said with an equally dry tone of voice. He rolled his shoulders as he stepped up, ignoring the on-going conversation that was going on between Galley and Silk, "I'll handle this boss. You just sit back and relax." He said as two of Galley's pirates immediately drew their weapons and closed in on the trio.

Konohamaru had something of a confident walk and swagger about him as he casually walked towards the on rushing gangsters. His casual attitude merely seemed to piss them of further as they quickly hastened their speed in a bid to close him down and put him in his place.

"Eat this you brat!" One of them yelled out as they brought down their sword for a vertical slash right down on Konohamaru, intent to split him into two.

Instead, he ended cutting nothing but air, "Too slow!" The young Sarutobi clansmen said in a chipper attitude as he appeared behind his attacker to land blow to the head, sending him crashing before having to flip over a swing from the other, "Once again, too slow." He repeated himself as he brought down an axe kicker onto the pirates head, "Alright, who's next?" He asked as he turned towards a stupefied Galley who was barely keeping his jaw connected to his face.

Galley quickly brought out a pistol from his coat and pointed it at Konohamaru, "You piss me off, just die already!" He shouted as he fired the pistol right at the ninja. A scream rang out from Silk's mouth when she saw Konohamaru get hit by the pistol and Galley laughed at the sight, "Haha, that's what you g-Eh?" He finished off dumbly when 'Konohamaru' disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"You shouldn't play with guns," The young teenager's voice said from behind the man, casually placing a hand on his shoulder, "Don't you know guns' kill people?"

"Actually, people do, guns just make it easier." Naruto interjected with an amused tone of voice.

"Be quiet boss," The young Sarutobi nearly snapped, I had something going their and you ruined it!"

Naruto laughed lightly before deciding to point something out, "You know they running away right?" He pointed out as the three pirates quickly made their escape down the street.

"Ah," Konohamaru said dumbfounded, "Well this is embarrassing. That only happened because you distracted me."

Naruto just walked past him, hands locked behind his head, "Yeah whatever, come on, let's go catch those guys. If they start going on a rampage in the town, I'll feel bad about it."

XxX

(Moments Later)

"...Well, this is rather embarrassing." Naruto said light heartedly as he and Konohamaru stood tied up, surrounded by the villagers who had been busy celebrating the capture of the 'Crescent Moon Galley' before that joyous celebration turned to horror not long after.

Konohamaru was of similar mind but was rather annoyed by something else entirely, "I think these people need glasses." What part of them exactly looked like they were pirates? And the village head had even been there when they had said they were ninja instead of pirates.

"We should probably do something." The blonde said as he looked at the fight that was going on in front of them.

Naruto and Konohamaru hadn't even begun to seriously chase after Galley and his two friends before they had found themselves ambushed by the townsfolk who had tied them up, thinking they were pirates, even though they weren't. The villagers had celebrated, that was until the real Galley had turned up, confident and arrogant looking as ever, like he hadn't had his ass kicked by Naruto and Konohamaru feel short moments before.

Silk had tried to save them, but she had arrived to late. Now the two boys and the villagers were watching Silk as she fought against Galley. Naruto and Konohamaru would admit that Silk had talent and potential when it came to swordsmanship, but she was just outclassed by her opponent.

They watched as Silk was knocked to the ground, "Stop it already Silk!" The village mayor cried out, worry laced in the entirety of his voice.

The teenage girl ignored the request directed at her and quickly got to her feet, prepared to continue fighting, "But, if we hand over our valuables now, the village will become a target for pirates again!"

"These aren't opponents we can match, we can't sacrifice our lives..."

"But-!"

Silk never got to finish off her sentence as Naruto cut in, the ropes that were tied around him slackening and loosely dropping to the ground, "Ah, you should probably know that when you're tying up a ninja. Never leave their arms together." He said, Konohamaru's ropes also going slack and falling to the ground. The blonde of the two turned his blue eyed gaze towards Galley, "Now then, we can't be having you going wild now can we? I think its about time you leave."

Galley and the two pirates beside them found themselves taking an involuntary step back at the look directed towards them from Naruto, "W-Who do you think you are you bastard!? Don't think you'll win like last time!"

"You sure have a lot of bluster," Naruto said as he appeared in the midst of the trio of pirates, courtesy of a quick Shunshin (Body Flicker), "But really, even the most dumbest of people should realise when they're outclassed. We've kicked your ass two times now, maybe you'll learn if you get it kicked for a third time?" He finished off as he quickly dispatched all three pirates with simultaneous attacks, rather too gleefully for any outside observers, "Well, that's that," The blonde said as he patted his hands together, "We better tie them up much better this time."

"That's a given," Konohamaru said as he poked Galley in the head with his foot, "So what do we do now?" He asked, turning his attention towards the leader of this entire endeavour.

"Well," Naruto dralwed slowly as his attention turned towards the port were Galley's ship was located, and approaching from the distance behind the pirate ship was the merchant ship that they had charted all the way from the Elemental Nations. Wow, they had taken their time or things had gone faster than he had thought, "We did need a ship...and lucky for us, there happens to be a ship right there in need of new owners."

Konohamaru looked at the purple coloured brig before shrugging his shoulders in a nonchalant manner, "Alright, that works for me. But we're going to need to do something about the colours though, I'm not a fan of purple." He added afterwards.

"And I agree with you," The blonde of the two ninjas said, both ninjas ignoring the villagers behind them who had just gaped at them for the entire duration the whole encounter had occurred, "Also those masts, yeah, they will also have to go. Good thing we're alright carpenters."

"We're not carpenters. We're _barely _carpenters."

"Ahem," The two ninjas stopped their squabbling to turn around to face the village mayor, "On behalf of the village, I want to apologise for our actions. We're truly sorry for thinking you were pirates."

Naruto just laughed as he waved the man off, "It's alright, really. It was just a misunderstanding, it could happen to anyone." He shrugged his shoulders as he lazily put his hands into his pockets, "The good thing is that you guys finally managed to stand up for yourselves. Sometimes, the only thing to do to protect what you find precious is to fight." He then turned his attention towards the port, "Right, let's go start working on that ship."

XxX

(A Week Later - Village Port)

"Boss..." Konohamaru groaned as he tried to stem the incoming headache he could just feel was a whisker away.

"I know Konohamaru," Naruto said, a wistful and longing sigh escaping from his lips, "Isn't she a beauty?"

The ship that had belonged to the Crescent Moon Pirates was a standard two square mast brig that had a dragon-like figurehead and was coloured purple. But after Naruto and his various clones had managed to get its hand on the ship, it was now something else.

From its original purple colouring, the hull had been painted a mixture of black and orange, in tiger like stripes. The two masts had been painted black and the previously black sails that had the Crescent Moon Pirate Jolly Rodger had been changed to that of simple, plain dark orange sails. And with the help of the shipwright that had been on the merchant ship, the dragon-like figurehead had been removed from the bow of the ship.

Naruto wanted his own figurehead but he had far too many ideas going through his head to actually think of one to be made in the time the shipwright was in the village with his crew. So he decided to leave that part of the ship alone for now until he finally thought of what he wanted his figurehead to be like later on.

Konohamaru shook his head as he massaged his temple, "Well, its definitely interesting for a lack of better terms."

"And eye catching," The two ninjas turned around to face the person who had just spoke, "Definitely eye catching. I thought ninjas were supposed to be about blending in?" Silk asked with some mirth in her voice.

Naruto just chuckled in amusement, "Oh, if you think this is bright and attention catching therefore unsuitable for a ninja, you should have seen me back when I was 12." He had worn that orange jumpsuit with a passion and damn did he rock it well, "So what's up Silk-chan, here to see us goodbye?"

Silk played with her hands a bit, "No, not really," She said, gaining the two ninjas attention, "I'm coming with you guys!" She finished off with a brilliant and sparkling smile that stretched all the way to her eyes.

"Waaahh?" Was the only thing that could come from the two ninjas mouth as their brains tried to catch up with what had just happened.

A resolute look came onto the blonde haired swordswoman's face, "You heard me, I'm coming with you guys," She looked down and bunched up the hem of her shirt, "I realised something with the whole incident with Galley. I'm weak, dreadfully so. Sure, I know how to swing a sword, but with my current strength, I won't be able to protect my own treasure." She then raised her head to look directly at both ninjas, "You guys are travelling the world aren't you? And you're both really strong from what I've seen. I don't know why, but I get the feeling if I come with you guys, I'll get strong enough to be able to protect my treasure."

Konohamaru took offence at some of the things she had just said, "You make it sound as if we'll be jumping feet first into one dangerous situation after another." Konohamaru didn't notice look away with something of a uneasy expression on his face, clearly the young Sarutobi wasn't aware of Naruto's horrendous luck.

The blonde haired woman merely shrugged her shoulders, "I know, I don't understand it either, but I just know." She eyed both ninjas in their eyes, "I'm coming, and there's nothing you can do about it. Plus anyway, you guys probably need a local to show you how things work around here." She finished off with a light smile on her face.

Konohamaru frowned slightly before looking at Naruto, "I don't think we'll be able to convince her to just stay here." They could have just easily jumped on the ship and quickly sail away, but that would leave a bad taste in his mouth, Naruto knew this, Konohamaru knew this. Neither of them wanted to break Silk and she had a point about the whole local thing. She might end up being useful in the future.

"Alright," Naruto said simply with a shrug of the shoulders, "You can come I guess, but since you're so sure we'll end up in dangerous situations, I'm sure you wouldn't mind being trained a little by me and my young ward here?"

Silk's eyes widened slightly, "I don't mind at all!" She said as she quickly raved past them and onto the ship.

Konohamaru scratched his head as he followed after her, "Well, she's excited."

Naruto sighed as he turned around and prepared to follow them aboard the ship but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and recognition flashed through his eyes as he looked at the person who had stopped him, "Old man mayor," He greeted with an amicable grin, "What's up? What can I do for you?"

The mayor removed his hand from Naruto's shoulder as he looked past him onto the ship where he could see Silk's blonde mane of hair eagerly moving around the deck, checking everything, "I honestly don't want her to go," The old man admitted, "Silk is the pride of our tiny village. She was the reason we rebuild our village after the very first attack, we just couldn't sit around mopping with such a joyous child around."

Naruto could see that the old mayor was going somewhere with his speech, so he just kept silent. The mayor then finally turned his attention to Naruto himself, "Bring her home Uzumaki-san, I swear, if something happens to her," His eyes uncharacteristically held a threatening glint to them that looked unnatural to be on the man, "There's no where on this planet that could hide you from my wrath." With that, the mayor simply turned around and walked back towards the village.

Naruto merely watched the man walk away with a blank look on his face at the threat that had been directed at him. He had been threatened before, by people that could do far more than what a simple village mayor could do, but something about it made a chill go down his spine.

And several other chills followed soon after when he noticed he was receiving several other looks of the same nature he received from the mayor from the other villagers, "...Okay then," The blonde jounin said to himself as he robotically made his way towards the ship, "The world sure is weird."

* * *

Character Cards

**Uzumaki Naruto**

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Occupation: Jounin-ranked Shinobi (Konoha), World Traveller

Affiliation: Konohagakure no Sato, Shinobi Alliance

Likes: Any kind of Ramen, causing all sorts of pandemonium, helping people, his friends.

Dislikes: Bastards or any other kind of person that rubs him off the wrong way.

Dream: To become the best Hokage to ever grace his village.

**Sarutobi Konohamaru**

Age: 15

Gender: Male

Occupation: Chuunin-ranked Shinobi (Konoha), World Traveller

Affiliation: Konohagakure no Sato, Shinobi Alliance

Likes: The Boss (Naruto), pranking on a certain blonde ninja, ramen and chocolate covered bananas.

Dislikes: Onions

Dream: To be stronger than Naruto, become Hokage.

**Silk**

Age: 15

Gender: Female

Occupation: Swordswoman, traveller

Affiliation: None, just travelling with a group of ninjas

Likes: Her village and the villagers

Dislikes: People who threaten her treasured home

Dream: To become strong enough to protect her village from any threat

* * *

**AN: Well, here goes nothing. Planning on this story being epic in length and figured the right time to start this story would be two years later after the Fourth War. The continent is stable, people are getting along with each other, time to see what lay beyond the waters that surround the elemental continent, and the One Piece world is big enough to fit in the Naruto world. You have to give Oda that in terms of appreciation, personally I think his world is far larger than that of Kishimotos'.**

**Other Naruto cast will be making appearances in the story in future chapters, some more than others.**

**About Silk, she isn't an OC, if you know your One Piece, you would know that she's one of the two Nami-like characters that Oda envisioned before creating Nami herself. This is one of the liberties I took, I decided to make her a central character as she joins Naruto and co on their journey to learn more about the world.**

**Well, that's that. See you in the next update boys' and girls (On a side note, rather curious here, but I've wondered how large the female population of this site was? Call it a curiosity of mine).**

**Raiden out.**


	2. Just Passing Through

**Shut outs!**

**the vitruvian man: Don't worry, I didn't forget the IT effect on the rest of the world. That's going to show up rather soon in fact, so there's nothing you have to worry about. Personally, I don't think Naruto's OP at all compared to the One Piece universe. I mean, have you seen some of the guys Oda has introduced to us? Whitebeard could give any of the Kage a run for their money, actually, any of the Admirals, Shichibukai (Some of them, whilst others, notable talented ninja who aren't S-rank can handle them) and the Four Emperor's are equal to Kage-level ninja in my opinion, so I don't really see where the I made Naruto OP comes from.**

**I'm still undecided on pairings or whether I'm making it a harem or not. It probably won't come into play way later in the story line. And I agree with the whole The Last: Naruto the Move thing. I just watched it for kicks, the rest was just a snooze fest as far as I was concerned. It was just a way for Kishimoto to try and explain how Naruto and Hinata ended up together, at least I learned some new things that I could use.**

**Toneri probably won't turn up in my story...probably. I'm still thinking about it and If I do, I do have a better ending of the world thing other than drop the moon on earth he came up with.**

**coduss: Eh no, it's called Romance Dawn after the first chapter of One Piece and one of the chapters after the two year time skip.**

**The Sin of Justice: I see where you're coming from, I really do. But come on, apparently it takes a little more than a couple of hours to go from the battlefield in the land of hot water to the valley of the end which is located in another. Kishimoto really doesn't give us any scope as to how big the continent is.**

**Yes there are army killers in the Ninja forces, 20+ countries against 170+ countries with naval and numerical superiority? That's a big ask and we're not even taking into account the fact that each member of the world government maybe asked to donate their own armed forces along with the Marines, we're talking millions upon millions of soldiers here compared to probably, I don't know 200,000+ ninja? With a small amount of them being S-rank and recognised army killers.**

**The Infinite Tsukuyomi shall not be ignored! It shall make up the overall reaching plot of the story to the ninja side and the World Government!**

**...I'm rather cold to NaruHina to be honest...**

**Deviation from canon is expected but the Ace thing? Hissssssss, the Ace thing is a catalyst. I don't think I'll be able to change that, maybe...I'll think of something.**

**sagar hussain: Same timeline as canon One Piece mate.**

**ichichong: I F*CKING LOVE YOU TOO MATE! HAVE A PINT ON ME!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece. Oda and Kishimoto do and they have made shit tonnes of money from that. I refuse to believe either wise.**

* * *

Silk honestly didn't know what to make off the two so called 'ninjas' that she had decided to travel with. They were certainly different from how they had explained their jobs to her. She had expected them to be somewhat dark and brooding considering ninjas were supposed to be experts in assassination, sabotage, infiltration among other things.

Naruto was well...Naruto. Even though she had only been introduced to him just a couple of days ago and they were now travelling together, she was content with the knowledge that she had somewhat figured him out. He was certainly an exuberant individual, rather childish to a degree with something's but she could tell that he was smarter than he showed himself to be and even though he was only four years older than herself, sometimes, he looked like he had seen and done everything in the world.

She had to wonder just what sort of things he had seen that would give him such an impression on people.

Konohamaru was like Naruto, just even more childish than the original and he had his own unique personality traits. From what she could tell, the younger ninja completely idolized the older one, going as far to call Naruto 'Boss' and the two held something of a relationship that was either mentor-student or brother-like relationship between the two of them, maybe even a mixture of the two.

Silk could honestly say that she rather like these two. They were fun and easy to speak and be around, she could tell they were going to be fast friends. There was just one problem with the whole set-up, something she didn't particularly like.

"...You guys don't even have a plan?" She asked, her eyes looking on in bewilderment at the forms of Konohamaru and Naruto as they just lazily sat in the shadow of one the ships' masts, enjoying the cool summer breeze that was coming through the area as they continued to sail the seas.

"We sort of do actually," Naruto said, his voices holding signs that he had tried to stifle a yawn. The weather and the whole scenario was just making his eyes droopy, trying to lull him to sleep.

Silk didn't know why she actually felt a bit of trepidation at fearing the answer to the question that was in her mind, "Really, what kind of plan do you have then?" She asked, trying to will away the trepidation.

"The make-it-up-as-we-go-along-plan of course."

"You're joking."

The blue eyed, blonde haired ninja failed to stifle another yawn, "I'm not joking," He said with a rather sleep tone, "It's not like we had a plan to begin with when we sailed away from home. We were just planning to see the world, see what's interesting and what not."

Silk frowned as she crossed her arms, looking down at the two ninjas sitting down in front of her, "So do you guys plan on going to the Grand Line then?"

Konohamaru peeked his eyes open for the first time during the entire conversation, "The Grand Line?" He said, repeating the Silk's words, "What's that?"

"You guys really don't know anything do you?" The blonde haired swordswoman asked dryly. The two ninja merely shook their heads in the negative rather vigorously, causing her to sigh, "The Grand Line is a sea route that runs north-west to south-east right around the world. With the Red Line, its one of the two lines that divide the Blue Sea into the Blue Seas; East, West, North and South," She explained gaining the attention of both Naruto and Konohamaru as they listened in intently, this information might prove to be useful later on, "According to some of the sailors that came into town, the Grand Line is the most dangerous place in the world."

At the mentioning of the Grand Line being the most dangerous place in the world, Silk suddenly felt as if she shouldn't have said such words judging by the look that came to Naruto's face, "Dangerous you say..." The blonde muttered as he stroked his chin in a conspiring manner, "...I would love how to see how dangerous this place really is."

Konohamaru turned his head to level a dry look towards his fellow shinobi, "Boss, we have a mission."

"Oh don't give me that Konohamaru," Naruto dismissed with a wave of the hand. He thumbed a finger in the direction of Silk, "She said so herself didn't she? This Grand Line place goes right around the world...so if we travel there, we'll still be travelling around the world." He said, trying to reason with the younger man.

Konohamaru still wasn't seeing it though, "You just want to travel there because she said its dangerous!"

A gleam came to Naruto's eyes as he turned his head slightly to look at Konohamaru, "You say that as if you aren't curious too," A sly grin slowly spread across the blonde ninja's face, "I know you're curious. Don't try and hide it from me." Konohamaru and himself shared many traits, like the need to go find something that will entertain them greatly. What could he say? They were men of action, they always had to do something that involved various degree of dangerous.

Konohamaru's mouth clammed shut as he looked away, he was curious and a part of him really wanted to check out this so called Grand Line, apparently the world's most dangerous place. But no way was he going to admit that to Naruto of all people. If he did, he wouldn't be able to live it down.

"...You guys are seriously planning on going to the Grand Line?" Silk eventually asked after listening in on the two ninjas. She really didn't know how to feel about that. That place was said to be dangerous for a reason and she really didn't fancy her chances, "That place is called the Pirate's Graveyard because the pirates who go there, many never return!"

Her fellow blonde in Naruto just levelled a dull look in her direction, "We're not pirates, so that doesn't apply to us."

Silk face faulted at that response before quickly picking herself up, "What sort of dumbass reasoning is that!?" She yelled at him, fists comically shaking in anger in the air.

"It's sound isn't it?" Naruto just replied rather too casually and relaxed for her own peace and mind, "You said that pirates who go there, barely none of them return. We're not pirates, so we'll return." It made sense didn't it? Well, to him, that logic made all the sense in the world, of course he didn't take into account that according to other people, that could be the dumbest thing they had ever heard.

And just like that, her life flashed right before her eyes. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea just randomly deciding to leave her beloved village behind to travel with literally, some backwater hickey's ignorant of the world.

Silk slumped to her knees, tears streaming down her face, "We're going to die."

"Oh don't be so dramatic," Naruto said with some amusement hiding in his voice at the reaction of the swordswoman. His eyes panned up to the sky and noticed the position of the sky and then he proceeded to clap his hands together to get the attention of Silk and Konohamaru, "Alright, back to training you two."

Silk involuntary took a step back, "What? But it hasn't even been an hour yet!" The teenage swordswoman knew that she had accepted being trained by Naruto when she joined him on the ship, it was just that she didn't expect him to be so...cruel when it came with his training.

Naruto crossed his arms and levelled a look in his fellow blonde's direction, "Yeah it has."

"How can you even tell? You didn't even use a watch!"

"Ninjas don't need watches," Konohomaru chimed in as he lazily got himself to his feet, "As long as we have the sun and the moon, we can always tell the time by its position," He continued as he dusted himself off, "We're just that cool."

The more experienced ninja of the two nodded his head, his mane of blonde hair swaying with each movement of the head, "Yeah, what he said. Now no excuses, back to training you go." He said, "Oh yeah, before that, hold on." He finished off as he got to his feet and made his way towards Silk whilst making a small chain of hand seals.

Silk looked at the oncoming Naruto strangely, wondering what he was doing with his hands, making all those strange hand signs, "Okay, what's up?" She asked, somewhat hesitantly although inwardly rather happy at the forestalling of her training with Konohamaru. Well, she would like to say training, but it was more along the lines of the teenage boy running circles around her whilst she tried to cut him up with her sword or dodge or block his attacks.

"Nothing much," Naruto said as he stopped in front of Silk and brought one of his hand up, second and third digit of his fingers extended, "Just this." He then proceeded to tap his two extended fingers on Silk's forehead.

The blonde girl just blinked owlishly, "Okay, what was that?" She asked as she went to raise her hand to rub the spot that Naruto had just randomly tapped. As she went to raise her hand, she noticed something was off. She looked at her hand that she was struggling to raise up before going back to Naruto, "Okay, what did you do?" She asked, some fear in her voice.

Naruto gave her a grin, "Well, it's been two days and I figured it should be about enough time to increase the level of your training," He said as he went onto an explanation, "So I just moved on to the next part."

"The next part being?" Silk asked as she continued to try and raise her hand. Every time she tried, it felt like their was some sort of drag pushing against her, like she was walking directly into strong winds.

"Resistance Seal." Konohamaru chimed in from the part of the deck where he was waiting for Silk, with something of an amused smirk on his face. Noticing the owlishly look he was receiving from Silk, he decided to explain some more for her benefit, "It's a seal that puts a certain level of resistance against your body depending on the users' needs. Essentially, it helps with conditioning the body as it simulates the effects of what would happen to the body if placed under controlled conditions. Like right now, you must feel as if you're walking in strong winds right?"

Silk merely nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah."

"That's the first or basic level. When you get used to that it means your overall physical abilities have increased to the point that being in a little strong wind is no problem for you and thus, in a normal environment, you're better than you were before."

"First level?" Silk asked slowly, "There's more?"

"Oh yeah," The young Sarutobi clansman said with a chuckle hiding beneath his words, "There's a whole lot more, if you think this is hard, then you just wait until the higher levels. You'll wish they were all the first level. Now come on over here and let's get this training started. I don't have all day."

Naruto watched with an amused glint in his eyes as Silk slowly trudged her way towards Konohamaru, putting all the extra effort needed to move her limbs in the way she wanted them. He was actually looking forward to seeing her suffer a bit as she tried to train with Konohamaru with her newest handicap placed on her, could that be considered sadistic? No, not at all. It was just tough love. She wanted to be stronger, you had to feel the pain to get stronger.

With that thought, a sudden realization made itself known as his mind also went back to his own training years ago with his master, '...Now I know why ero-sennin did all those things to me.' He had just thought he was sadistic, apparently not.

Shrugging to himself as what was done, was done, the blonde jounin made his way towards the helm where one of his clones was manning the wheel, beside that clone, another clone that was acting as the navigator. He was rather surprised that they had been able to do such a task without doing anything stupid or getting into some sort of fight over nothing.

That was how much faith he had in his clones and in other words, himself.

"So how is it going?" Naruto asked as he walked up to the steering wheel.

The two clones turned their attentions from their tasks to look at Naruto, "Boss," They greeted in unison before the navigator of the two continued speaking, "We're right on course...I think." The clone finished off in a calm manner despite what it just said.

"That doesn't feel me with much confidence." The original deadpanned as he came to a halt beside the clones.

The navigator clone merely shrugged its shoulders in a nonchalant manner, "We can barely read a land map," He then indicated towards the map that it was holding and had been purveying for the past couple of hours, "Don't get me started on a nautical map." And it had thought land maps were complicated. A nautical map was just a whole new ball game that it didn't want to deal with.

The original blonde haired ninja merely sighed, completely detached at the fact that the lives of himself and his two companions were in the hands of someone who wasn't at all suited for the job, "Yeah, okay whatever. So where are we supposed to be on course too anyway?"

The clone brought up the map and scrutinized it for a bit, "From the looks of it, a place called Commi Island." It replied with a shrug of the shoulders, "We should probably stop their and get some supplies and directions from where to go next."

"Oh I know where we're going next after that."

The two clones turned their attentions to the original, "You do?"

Naruto nodded his head, "Yeah I do, the Grand Line. It's supposed to be the most _dangerous_ place in the world."

"...Dangerous you say," The two clans said slowly, a glimmer in their eyes, "That sounds like...fun."

"I know," Naruto said with a slowly forming grin, "That's what I thought too!"

XxX

(Commi Island)

"We've finally arrived, but the real problem is from here. First, let's try to find where Nami docked the ship," A young man with short, light green hair and three piercings in one ear who was rather lightly tanned and muscular covered in bandages said as he sat inside a small boat. He picked up one of three swords that he had on his persons and flicked out the blade slightly, "And then cut our way in?" He suggested with a deadly, serious look on his face.

The two other people in the boat with him didn't think, "As if!" They shouted in unison, their eyes bulging out of their sockets, "Are you an idiot? We don't have the slightest clue about what's going on yet!"

A few moments later, one of the other persons in the boat, a young man with a long nose, black curly hair that was covered by a yellow plaid bandana with goggles over them who wore brown overalls with a yellow sash noticed something from the binoculars in his hands, "There it is," He announced as his enhanced vision settled on a caravel ship that had a goats' figurehead and what looked like to be trees on its deck, "I found the Going Merry, she's docked over there!"

The green haired young man from before shouted at the other boy, "Hey! What's the meaning of this? Untie me right now!" He shouted from his position where he had been tied up by his two companions.

Unfortunately, he was completely ignored as the last of the group looked at a map, "Hm, well that's certainly a strange place to dock a ship." The sunglasses wearing man said as he pointed onto the map, "It's a little off from the Cocoyashi Village marked on this map." He said as he continued to ignore the shouts from the green haired man asking to be untied from his bindings.

The curly head one merely grinned as he walked towards his companion and patted him on his bandaged wounds, "That's enough Zoro, look at yourself, you look as you're about to faint from all that yelling you're doing." The newly identified Zoro managed to stifle whatever pain he was feeling from the pats, "You were an inch away from death remember?"

The curly head one stopped as he went towards the bow of the ship and took on a triumphant look as he crossed his arms together across his chest, "Just leave it to me, I'll bring that girl back!"

"Aren't you suddenly cheerful now that you know we aren't going to Arlong Park?" The one with the short hair and dark sunglasses said.

Of course he was ignored as the bandana wearing youth started yelling orders which the short-haired man acknowledged as they directed their small boat towards the ship known as the Going Merry, "Alright! The adventure that's about to unfold as I bravely step foot on this virgin lands, will hereby known as the 'Warrior Usopp's Great Adventure' fitting title eh Johnny boy?"

"Yeah, yeah." Johnny said dismissively as he went to work the ships' rudder.

With Johnny directing the small ship with the rudder and Usopp standing in a grandiose pose at the bow of said ship itself, they neared the Going Merry and were prepared to dock their very own ship until they noticed that the pier was occupied, by what looked like to be three human-fish hybrids...who then proceeded to notice them as they neared the pier.

'...Fishmen!' Johnny and Usopp thought with their jaws hanging in shock whilst sweating furiously, "Full speed ahead!" The curly haired of the two ordered as he pointed ahead.

Johnny diligently followed the orders with all he had, "Aye, aye." The two then proceeded to ignore Zoro's protest about why they just went and bypassed the fishmen. Instead, the two tried to quiet down the green haired teen from attracting attention.

Thinking that they had been able to bypass the fishmen and were in relatively safety, they relaxed a bit until they noticed that they were being pursued by the fishmen who were swimming in the water and were quickly catching up in their natural element.

Johnny and Usopp just shared a look between them, "Abandon ship!" They both yelled as they quickly dived into the water itself and began swimming furiously away from the ship, leaving behind the tied up Zoro alone.

Zoro had several bulging veins on his forehead as two of the fishmen made their way aboard the ship, 'I swear, I'm going to kill those two.'

XxX

(With Usopp &amp; Johnny)

After abandoning ship (and Zoro whilst there were at it) Johnny and Usopp had managed to swim to shore. When they had managed to get onto dry land, they had been surprised at what they had seen. It was a village except for the fact that running down the middle of the village was a deep trench left by something of monstrous size whilst at the same time, all the buildings in the village were turned upside down.

Johnny and Usopp just stood there with their mouths hanging open at the sight, "T-This must be Gosa village that Arlong supposedly destroyed a couple of weeks ago." Johnny finally said as answered Usopp's previous question.

The two walked further into the village, taking in the sight before them, "All the houses..." Usopp said as he looked around, "Turned upside down."

"I've heard that from the moment they are born, fishmen are ten times stronger than humans." The tattooed man said with a grave and serious look upon him, his face slightly shadowed to accentuate the seriousness of the matter, "This is the strength of those from the Grand Line and what happens to those that oppose Arlong!"

Usopp managed to stop himself from shuddering at the sight before noticing something from the corner of his eyes. He turned his head and saw Johnny running for the hills at full pace, "Hm, what's up Johnny?"

Usopp found his form shadowed by someone or something behind him, "Almost letcha get away," The figure behind Usopp said as he looked down at the teenage boy, "Are you a friend of that exiled human?"

Usopp slowly turned around and his jaw dropped and tears streamed from his eyes when he noticed that one of the fishmen from the pier was the one who was standing behind him. Thinking quickly, he did the only thing that came to mind that one would do in such a situation, "_Gyaaahh!_" He screamed and ran as fast as his feet could take him.

"Wait!" The portly looking fishmen shouted at Usopp as it ran after him to catch-up.

XxX

(With Naruto)

"Dry land at last." Konohamaru said as he stretched his arms, standing on the pier.

Naruto jumped down from the ship and landed beside the younger ninja, "Technically, its not land, its wood." He pointed out. He then noticed that their ship wasn't the only ship that was docked in the port, "Ha, what a strange looking ship," He remarked as he looked at the caravel that sat opposite his own ship, "I think I like the figurehead." He said with a smirk on his on his face.

"We're on land, can you switch your resistance seal thingy off please?" Silk begged, hope in her tone as she made her way down to the pier, an expression of strain and fatigue on her face.

"What? No chance." Naruto said flatly, deflating whatever hope she was feeling, "This is training, _training_~. No sweat, no gain." The blonde ninja then began walking down the pier, "Alright then, let's go find some civilization. Where we heading too Konohamaru?"

Naruto's two companions followed closely behind, one making more effort in trying to keep up than the other, "Civilization like that?" Konohamaru asked as he pointed up the road they were heading in.

Naruto followed Konohamaru's finger and noticed that he was pointing towards a small cottage that was surrounded by what looked like to be a garden full of tangerine groves, "Yeah, civilisation like that." He grinned as he lead the way, "Let's go introduce ourselves then."

The party of three made their way up towards the cottage from the pier. As they neared said cottage, they noticed that their was another road that lead towards a nearby village, deciding to leave that for later, the group continued on their journey towards the cottage, all the while two of them ignored the complaining of the third person.

Just before they neared the quaint looking place, they noticed a small boy exit the house before making his way towards the village they had seen earlier. Eventually, they reached the door and Naruto gave it a spirited wrap of the knuckles.

"That better not be you Chabo." A feminine voice said from behind the door as it was opened. The door fully opened to reveal a woman with bluish hair with a red tie keeping the bangs away from her face. She wore black pants and a sleeveless yellow top that showed of a rather elaborate tattoo that started from her right shoulder and reached across her chest...were both Naruto and Konohamaru's eyes stopped as they admired the artwork, so to say. The young woman cast a dry look at both boys who were blatantly staring at her chest, "Oi, my face is up. Don't make me get my gun."

That managed to bring Naruto out of his stupor as he with some difficulty managed pull his eyes away from her chest, "I was just admiring your lovely tattoo." He said, somewhat weakly, "It's very...eye catching."

From beside him, Konohamaru dumbly nodded his head in agreement, his eyes still on the tattoo, "Very _eye catching_. Can't take my eyes of it."

The woman just levelled a dry look on Konohamaru before raising a hand balled into a fist and crashing introducing it to the dark-haired ninja, sending him crashing into the ground. Naruto just looked down at his fellow ninja, as Nojiko merely blew at the tip of her knuckles, trying her best to hide the fact that she felt she had done more damage to her hand than to Konohamaru, before turning her attention back to Naruto, "So who are you again? I've never seen your faces before." She asked, quickly noting the third figure approaching her farm, "And what's wrong with her?" She asked, pointing at Silk who was panting furiously and looked like she was just going to drop to the ground.

Naruto turned his head to look at his fellow blonde, "Oh nothings wrong with her. Remember Silk-chan, no pain, no gain!" He encouraged her only to receive a middle finger for his troubles, "Well that's rude." He mumbled as he turned his attention back to the blue haired woman, "And I'm Naruto, the idiot on the ground is a friend of mine, Konohamaru and behind me is Silk-chan."

"Nojiko," The blue haired woman simply said, eyeing all three before shrugging, "You guys look harmless enough," If only she knew the truth when it came to two of them, "So you guys must be that idiots friend?"

Konohamaru eventually managed to get himself to his feet, rubbing the top of his head were a small bump had formed, "What idiot?"

Nojiko moved out of the door way and invited them in, which the three of them accepted and entered the small cottage. They followed their host into a living room like earlier, "That idiot." Nojiko eventually said as she pointed towards a black-haired teen who was sitting on a chair.

"Hey!" The teen yelled in protest, "I'm not an idiot!"

"You picked a fight with the fishmen," Their tattooed host said as she took a nearby seat, "You're an idiot as far as I'm concerned."

'Fishmen?' Naruto thought with a curious brow quirked up his head before taking his own seat in the room, "Yeah sorry, he doesn't belong to us."

An annoyed look came onto the teens face, "Can you stop talking like I'm some sort of pet?" He asked before smirking as he stood up in a grandiose manner, "Don't you know who I am? I'm the Great Pirate Captain, Usopp the Great, commander of the most fearsome pirate crew in East Blue!"

Naruto, Konohamaru and Silk just stared dryly at the posing Usopp before quickly disregarding him, "Never heard of you." They said in unison, causing the teenager to face-fault to the ground.

Nojiko hummed as she looked at the newest guest within her house, "Wait, so you aren't on this guys' crew?" She asked, indicating towards Usopp.

Konohamaru shook his head, "No, we aren't on his crew. We aren't even pirates." He then turned towards Usopp and gave him a once over several times, "Are you sure this guy is a pirate? He doesn't even look that menacing like most pirates I've seen."

Nojiko laughed lightly, "Apparently, he's on the same crew that my sister screwed over." She noticed the looks of confusion that they were giving her, "She stole their ship. That one down there." She said as she pointed out of a window towards the pier, her finger pointing towards the ship that was docked opposite Naruto's, "I take it the other is yours?"

Naruto nodded with a proud smile on his face, "Yeah, it's awesome isn't it?"

"Has a lot of orange though." Nojiko mused with a wry grin on her face, "Sort of making yourselves a moving target aren't you?"

Naruto shrugged as he relaxed in his seat, "Orange is awesome."

Nojiko shook her head, mirth on her beautiful features, "Well, if I was you guys, I would just hop back on that ship and sail away from here."

"Why?"

"Arlong."

"That's mean absolutely nothing to us." Konohamaru said with a casual shrug of the shoulders, "I take it's just some guy."

"Some guy? Some _guy_?" The bandana wearing teen repeated, "Arlong is the most fearsome pirate in East Blue! Not only does he have the largest bounty in this stretch of the ocean, he also has this entire region in his claw and he's a fishman to boot!" He said quickly, his voice rising with each word he said. Naruto thought if he had continued speaking, his voice would have started squeaking sooner or later, "I mean, he destroyed an entire village!"

Naruto had taken in what Usopp had said, but out of the entire tirade he had heard from the teenage boy, he had taken in something Usopp said even more than the rest, "He destroyed a village?" He asked with a slightly serious inflection in his voice.

Nojiko gave Usopp a smack on the back of the head, "Just leave it, it doesn't concern you." She said as she got up from her seat, "Just do what I said, go back on your ship and leave before the Arlong and his pirates realise you're on the island." She finished off as she disappeared into the back of her home.

Naruto watched her leave before turning his attention to Usopp who was rubbing the back of his head, still smarting over the smack he received, "So Usopp," Naruto said slowly, garnering the teenagers attention, "About this destroyed village, what happened to it exactly?"

Usopp wanted to keep quiet out of respect for Nojiko's wishes but when he found himself at the end of three rather deadly, serious stares, he couldn't help but open his mouth, "Well..."

XxX

"How could he do that boss?" Konohamaru asked behind gritted teeth as he stomped his feet as they made their way towards Cocoyashi village from Gosa village, "Destroying that village, and turning all those houses upside down?" That was a sick joke, all he wanted to do right now was go find this Arlong person and introduce him to his fists and make him pay for what he had done.

Even the normally bubbly Silk was rather peeved off at the sight she had seen. What she had seen had hit home with her more than Konohamaru as that could happen to her village at any time, "That's why I want to be stronger. To stop someone from doing something like that to my own." Her anger at Arlong and his pirates was at the forefront of her mind that she didn't even register the fact that she was powering through the resistance the seals were placing her body against.

Konohamaru snapped his head in Naruto's direction as they continued on the path towards Cocoyashi village, "How are you not angry boss?" He asked. He couldn't understand how Naruto had such an eerily calm look on his face as they made their way away from the village. He had seen Naruto go off on a tangent on far less things.

See, the problem wasn't because Naruto wasn't angry, instead, he was actually seething in anger. He just didn't show it and also because Kurama was busy talking him down from going to find these Arlong Pirates that were located on the other side of the island on a large base and using a Bijuudama (Tailed Beast Ball) to blow the place along with its inhabitants to kingdom come.

The blonde released a breath he didn't know he was holding as he ran a hand through his hair, "I _am_ angry Konohamaru." Naruto said to the younger ninja as they continued making their way, "In fact, I'm actually thinking of various ways I was going to violently turn him into paste. Eventually I'll think of something and then promptly go and make it reality."

Konohamaru smirked as he palmed a fist in front of his chest, "Then you can count me in. I'd like my pound of flesh too."

"Me too!" Silk said as she also wanted to have a go at the pirates. She then noticed that her two companions were giving her a look, "What?"

"Well," Naruto began as he scratched his cheek, "Apparently this Arlong guy has the most fearsome crew in this part of the world. He might be a little out of your league."

Silk's eyes widened at that, "You can't be serious!"

"I am." Naruto replied resolutely, "You had trouble fighting against a guy that had a bounty of five million. This guy has a bounty of twenty million, what do _you_ think that means in the difference in power?" Surely when it came to bounties, it followed the same rules that it did in the Elemental Nations right? The higher the bounty, the stronger the wanted individual.

Silk wanted to argue against the decision but eventually relented, but not happily, "So what? Am I going to be just sitting on the side for the entire thing?" She asked, a visible frown on her features.

"Not really Silk-chan." Naruto said with a small smile on his face, "I'm sure you'll eventually get strong enough to fight people without having to worry about me or Konohamaru here looking over your back. I promise." Silk frowned a bit before giving a small hesitant nod as she continued to walk with Naruto.

Eventually, they reached the village and were making their way deeper into it, "Arlong Empire! They're thinking of building their own empire?" Naruto turned his head when he heard Usopp's distinctive voice from between the buildings in the outskirts of the village, "He'll conquer all the town's in East Blue! That means my town too!" And Silk's village too if the sudden paling of her face showed that she had also heard what Usopp had just inadvertently shared with them.

The group of three made their way towards the only people they know in town who were leaning against a wall watching Arlong shake people down. At this sight, Konohamaru had a noticeable frown on his face at the sight and was barely holding himself back from attacking the pirate then and there. Silk though had a more worried expression, no doubt was she looking on envisioning her own village under the yolk of such a person.

Nojiko just lazily closed her eyes at the sight, "Maybe. The best thing we can do now is just stay quiet and be patient."

"Or," Usopp and Nojiko's turned their heads in surprise to face Naruto and company who had made their way towards them, "You can just leave it to Konohamaru and me to take care off them."

"Hmph, I bet even one of us is enough to take care of these chumps." Konohamaru grunted out in an angry manner as he eyed the pirates, barely even marvelling at the fact that they looked like human-fish hybrids.

Nojiko blinked before regaining her wits about her, "You went to Gosa didn't you?" She turned her head towards Usopp who was finding the sky suddenly interesting at this very moment in time, "I should have just hit you on the head again the moment you woke up."

"It doesn't matter," Naruto said as he leaned against the same building, "I rather not talk about that at the moment. I'm rather angry, I haven't seen a sight like this in a long time." He didn't know which was worse the worse scenario, this or Nami no Kuni. Both had come under the yoke of one of the worst's scum on the planet. Naruto could honestly say this was probably the worst one as Arlong had actually gone and destroyed a village and probably killed many of its inhabitants, whilst Gato had only killed a few people to his knowledge, "You're lucky I have experience at this sort of thing."

"Don't do anything that'll cause trouble for us." Nojiko said as she turned her attention towards the scene happening in front of her that Arlong was causing before her eyes widened slightly, "Gen-san!"

A huge fishman with a saw-like nose wearing a hat over his long black hair and was dressed in an open yellow tropical shirt and shorts hoisted a scarred old man with black hair and dressed in a brown police uniform by the collar of his shirt, "You've been stockpiling weapons...a person with weapons is a person that wants to go against me. Because that person has destroyed peace in my area!" The fishman had a rather cruel smirk cross his lips, "Then I guess I'll have to kill you as a lesson for the others, so that everyone knows what happens to anyone who dares to go against me."

'Peace?' Naruto thought with a mental sneer, 'Peace forced onto people out of fear isn't peace at all.'

Usopps' eyes bulged out of their sockets, "You got to be kidding! He's only got a sword and he's going to get killed?"

Konohamaru had an angry look on his face and his hands were balled into fists so tightly that he risked his fingers breaking the skin and drawing blood. His eyes panned towards his idol, conveying the question he couldn't bring himself to ask just out of anger.

Naruto went to answer but was stopped when Nojiko rushed past him into the opening, "Arlong, you can't do this to us! We've always paid you for the last eight years! Until now, there's been absolutely no-one that has gone against you! Release Gen-san!"

The now revealed leader of the pirates, Arlong turned his cruel and amused eyes in the direction of Nojiko, "I already told you that owning a weapon means going against my rule. I have to kill this man to maintain the peace in the areas under my control. Or do you want me to destroy the whole village? You can choose. If you hurt any one of us, the village will be completely destroyed."

The villagers all backed off with anger in their eyes, causing Arlong's smirk to widen some more, "That's what I thought. Oh yeah, it seems as if there's some new people on the island who appeared just recently. If I were you and valued your lives, if you see anyone you haven't seen before report them to me or my men immediately and if they so happen to be in the area, well, it's not like they can go anywhere, we have their ship."

"Well, that's annoying." Naruto said with a twitching eyebrow before noticing something, "Where did the other guy go?" He asked when he noticed that Usopp wasn't among them anymore. His attention had been on Arlong that he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings in the slightest.

Konohamaru and Silk looked around, both not having noticed the long-nosed kid disappear, "Who knows?" Silk said with a shrug.

"And as an example of what happens to people who go against me," Arlong hoisted Genzo into the air and prepared to slam him into the ground on his back, "This is what happens!"

Naruto, Konohamaru and Silk's eyes widened, the two boys already beginning to prepare themselves to quickly step in and stop the fishman from killing the old man. That had been the plan until something hit Arlong straight in the face and exploded.

"Explosion Marble!"

Everyone buzzed around as they looked on at the scene before they started looking around for the perpetrator, "Look, someone's on the roof!"

"Who the hell are you?"

Naruto and the others followed the line of sight of the other villagers and the Arlong pirates to look towards a nearby roof were Usopp stood with his goggles on and his arms crossed in front of his chest, "I am the bravest warrior out of the East Blue, Captain Usopp!" He said bravely but his knees were shaking rather noticeably, bringing a sweatdrop from Konohamaru and Naruto, "Everyone calls me Evil Usopp from Hell and are afraid of me. I have 8000 man with me! If you go back from where you came from, I'll forgive you!"

Arlong stood up with an angered look on his face, smoke from the explosion wafting of his frame, "I don't care if you have tens of thousands...I will kill them all." He said, his voice low and murder in his eyes, "You puny human, you dare go against me? You're just a weakling!" Arlong then proceeded to lift up the house Usopp was standing ontop of from its foundations much to the surprise of the villagers and Silk at the feat of strength and at the protests of his crew, before throwing it.

Usopp survived and took off running with a couple of fishmen chasing after him. Arlong was held up by the rest of his crew from proceeding to damage the village even more than it was now before being taken away.

"You managed to survive this time," A fishman dressed in a black gi that resembled a ray said as he looked back at the villagers, "But we'll be back next time." He finished off before following after Arlong and the rest of the pirates.

Naruto sat leaning against one of the buildings as he watched the villagers fuss over Gen's wounds, "Ha, I didn't know that guy was that brave." He said in regards to Usopp, "I didn't think he was going to go and do something like that."

"You're joking right?" Konohamaru asked with a dull look on his face, "You did hear his knees shaking right?"

Silk on the other hand, rather than discussing Usopp's perceived courage, she was more interested in something else, "How are you guys even ignoring this?" She asked as she attracted their attention, her hands indicating towards the destroyed house that Arlong had ripped clean off its hinges and then process to rip of its foundations and throw like an everyday item.

Strength like that was just monstrous.

Konohamaru lazily turned his head towards the destroyed house, "Frankly, if you think this is impressive, you would be impressed by the slightest thing back home." The teenager said with a shrug and air of indifference about him, "Boss here can destroy mountains with some of the things he can do."

"D-Destroy mountains?" The girl spluttered, wanting to argue with Konohamaru about how such a thing wasn't possible but from the inflection of his voice, he was deadly serious. She turned her eyes from Konohamaru towards Naruto who looked to be deep in thought, 'There's no way.'

Naruto brought himself from the depths of his mind to notice a girl around their age with orange hair wearing a spotted sleeveless shirt and mini-skirt, "Long time no see everyone." She said with a small smile on her face as a wind blew through the area.

The group of three watched with various looks of confusion on their faces when they noticed the villagers look away from her. The girl frowned before heading towards where Gen and Nojiko were located, barely even noting Naruto and company.

Konohamaru looked at the scene of the villagers who were doing their best to ignore the girl, "Okay, what the hell?" He asked as he looked at the villagers. He didn't know why they were ignoring someone who clearly knew them.

Silk also shared the same look that was on Konohamaru's face as she agreed with him, "Why would they just ignore her like that? It's like she's the plague."

Naruto looked at the scene and shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. I want to know, but I don't want to look like I'm prying into their business." He said, hiding the frown on his face as the treatment the girl was receiving hit too many balls close to him considering his own chequered past. He shook his head as he got up and patted his thighs, "Something is definitely up though."

XxX

The group consisting of two ninja and rookie swordsman found themselves back in Nojiko's cottage much to her ire, "Why are you guys back here?" She asked, seating on the reverse of a seat, her elbow propped up on the back as she rested her head on her hand.

Naruto lazily turned his attention towards Nojiko, "Well, we just learned that Arlong has our ship and we're planning on how to go and get it back." Konohamaru and Silk nodded as if to confirm what they were currently doing.

To Nojiko though, they looked like they were just lazing about, "He'll kill you, probably." She said with confidence in her voice before blinking, "Well, maybe one of you and leave the rest for whatever purpose." She adjusted with a shrug of her shoulders. Whatever happened to them wasn't her problem.

Konohamaru and Naruto burst out laughing at such a thing, "He can sure try, but it won't be worth it." The youngest of the two said in between bouts of laughter.

Nojiko looked at the two strangely before her eyes drifted towards the only one who seemed to have her head attached to her shoulders correctly. Silk merely shrugged her shoulders when she saw what her eyes were trying to convey, "Apparently, they don't rate Arlong as much of a threat."

"He threw a house." Nojiko more or less deadpanned, "How is that not scary?"

Silk could only shrug for an answer to the blue haired mistress' question, instead she decided to question her on something, "Why don't you guys fight back?" She asked before thinking it over, "And what about the Marines, why don't they do anything?" The Marines existed to stop something like this didn't they? They were the military and policing arm of the World Government to stop things like this from happening.

Nojiko could only let a wry laugh escape her lips, "Don't even start about the Marines. The man who's supposed to patrol this area is in Arlong's pocket."

"What?" Silk let out in surprise, "He accepts money to just ignore this?"

"Pretty much."

Silk looked like she was ready to fume at such a notion at how someone who swore to protect innocent people from evil beings like Arlong could just sit back and relax whilst people suffered to line his own pockets.

Naruto let a sharp breath of air escape his lips, "That's one more person on my shit list."

Nojiko raised an eyebrow, "You have a shit list?"

Naruto nodded and Konohamaru raised his hand, "So do I. He's on mine too."

Nojiko laughed again in a wry manner, "Even if you guys managed to do something, do you know what would happen?" The two boys shook their heads in the negative, "The entire military of East Blue will come down on your heads!"

"I don't really care." Naruto said plainly, eyeing Nojiko right in the eyes, startling her somewhat at his rather blunt admission. The blonde leaned back in his chair as he held his hands behind his head, letting a wry laugh escape his lips, "Do you know back home I'm considered S-rank? It means I'm an army killer. I have moves that could wipe out armies if I have to, in terms of sheer destructive power, I can only think of one or two people that can match me. And anyway, if someone so happens to take out this rat, it's a good thing for you guys it means that someone more competent would be placed in charge instead of a bastard that allows people to suffer even though its his job to stop such things." He tilted his head directly in Nojiko's direction, "I can tell that you think me and Konohamaru are all bluster and don't have anything to back us up. I don't mind since you don't know us, but trust me when I say this, we're strong, stronger than you could believe in my case and so is Konohamaru," He wrapped an arm around the younger teenager, "I mean, he managed to beat a ninja that was single-handedly destroying my village back home."

"Technically I didn't beat him, I just destroyed one of his bodies." Konohamaru interjected matter of factly.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I'm praising you and you're correcting me. Lemme tell you something really important Konohamaru, when someone's praising you, you don't correct them."

Nojiko looked at the two banter back and forth, unknowing that tears were streaming down her face, "Stop trying to act tough! Like I can believe anything you say, if you go against Arlong, all you'll do is go and get yourself killed!" She shouted at them, getting them to stop and startling the other three, "Arlong and his crew have beaten everyone! The only way we can be free is if Nami's plan-." She placed a hand in front of her mouth to stop herself from speaking anymore when she realised she was about to spill out something important to outsiders.

"I told you something was going on." Naruto commented evenly, "Now all she has to do is tell us whatever this plan is anyway." Nojiko looked away from them, keeping her mouth shut, "Come on Nojiko, you can tell us. We're the good guys. We're already involved in this anyway the moment Arlong took our ship, might as well fully embrace us into the circle."

After a little more pestering from Naruto, Konohamaru and Silk, eventually Nojiko told them everything. She told them about how Arlong appeared and took over the island, about how he shot her's and Nami's adopted mother Belle-mere in front of them because she couldn't pay up the tax he had imposed on the villagers. About how Nami was forced to join Arlong's crew and her plan to free the village.

Throughout all this, she had been crying, her tears streaming down her face and Naruto could tell that she was someone who didn't allow herself to be seen crying. Silk moved to comfort the girl with her own eyes wet and tears threatening to fall from the story.

Konohamaru watched with a grim look on his face, "Boss?"

"Yeah Konohamaru?"

"Arlong isn't going to keep his end of the bargain is he?"

"Not really, people like him rarely do." Suddenly, their was an uproar from the cliffside that attracted the groups' attention. Naruto got up from his seat and made his way towards the door, "Seems like somethings happening. Might as well go see."

XxX

The uproar had been the villagers celebrating when they saw a Marine ship that had arrived on the island sent by the government to aid Gosa village. Their celebration and hopes turned into despair when the ship was sunk by members of the Arlong Pirates.

At seeing the sight and deciding that it was probably time to go and finally get their ship back Naruto began to make his way towards Arlong Park with Konohamaru and Silk. Nojiko had noticed them go off and quickly went after them, hoping to try and stop them from doing something stupid.

Along the path towards the pirate base, Naruto and company came across an unusual sight. The sight was that of a teenage boy with messy black hair, a scar underneath his left eye wearing a red vest and blue shorts being stamped on by green haired teenager and another with blonde hair that covered his left eye dressed in a black suit smoking a cigarette.

The two groups of people just stood staring at each other before Naruto deciding to get the festivities over and done with, "I don't know you apart from that one over there," He said as he pointed at Usopp, "And you don't know me, but I'm Naruto, nice to meet you."

"Uffy!" The boy that had his head beneath the feet of the other two said.

Naruto gave a megawatt grin at the dark-haired teenager, "Well nice to meet you Uffy!"

"Ah actually his name is Luffy," The green-haired one said as he removed his foot and crossed his arms, "And I'm Zoro." He finished off as he introduced himself.

"Sanji." The blonde haired one said.

"Konohamaru pointed at himself as he joined in the trend, "Konohamaru, nice to meet you."

Silk smiled lightly as she gave them a wave, "Silk." She took a small step back when she saw the blonde haired one look at her with hearts for eyes. That was freaky.

Usopp scratched his cheek in thought, "There must be a reason as to why she joined those mermen."

"If you're talking about the girl with blonde hair, there is a reason why she joined those guys." Konohamaru chimed in with a displeased look on his face, "But its not really our place to tell."

Naruto resumed walking down the path, "Well Arlong has something of ours and we're going to go get it ba_-Hurk_!." He never finished his sentence as he found something hit him hard on the back of the head sending him stumbling to the floor. He immediately looked back rubbing the back of his head, "What the hell!?" He shouted as he looked at the perpetrator, Nojiko, "And how the hell did you even hit me let alone sneak up on me!?" He should have sensed her coming from miles away.

"Don't go do something stupid that will bring trouble for us!" Nojiko yelled at him as she landed several blows on the blonde, leaving him nothing more than a bruised mess. She let out a breath as she looked over her handiwork. She then noticed the others, "You must be the real crew that Nami ripped off."

Zoro nodded his head from the tree that he was sitting against, "Yeah, and who are you?"

"I'm Nojiko, Nami's sister," She replied before ignoring Sanji who was busy torn between gushing over Nojiko and Silk, "If I tell you her story will you just let it be?"

Luffy abruptly stood up, "I don't need to hear this because I don't care. I'm going to take a walk."

Nojiko blinked as she watched the straw-hat wearing teen walk-away. Usopp just watched Luffy walk away in the opposite direction of Arlong Park, "You're not interested?"

Luffy continued walking, "Nop, not really."

XxX

(A Couple of Hours Later)

"Who the hell randomly beats people on the head?" Naruto grumbled as he nursed the bumps on his head. He then turned an accusing look towards his two crewmates, "And _you_ guys didn't even try to stop her."

Konohamaru tried to play innocent, "I know better than to try and get in the way of a woman's wrath."

"Same here," Silk chimed in with a raised hand, "And I know because I'm a woman too."

Naruto shook his head as they made their way back into the village from the place they had been hanging out with the Straw-hat pirates apparently, "I can't even blame you since I would do the very same thing if the roles were reversed." He muttered angrily under his breath before noticing something in the village. All the villagers were buzzing around the doctor's office, "What happened?" Naruto asked as they reached the back of the crowd.

One of the villagers spoke through gritted teeth, "Arlong's Marine lackey came and took all of Nami's money that she had worked so hard to gain. I'm sure Arlong told them. They tore through the property looking for it."

"What?" Naruto quickly made his way through the crowd, none of them barely noticing that he had walked past them. He entered the office and saw Nojiko having bandages placed on her, a red stain on the gauze on the spot she was shot. He made his way towards her, "I can help her." He said attracting the attention of the people in the room who had just noticed his presence.

"What?" Gen let out in surprise, "Who are you and how did you get in?"

Naruto came to a stop on her bedside, "It doesn't matter who I am," He said as he placed a hand on the bullet wound, "What matters is I can help her and that I'm the man who is going to make Arlong wish he was never born."

"What are you doing?" Doctor Nako went to stop him but stopped when Naruto removed his hand and the bullet wound had closed, "What?" He let out in shock.

Naruto then began to make his way out of the office, the villagers making way as they saw the look on his face. Konohamaru saw Naruto come out of the building and a wide, toothy grin came onto his face, "Arlong Park?"

Naruto nodded, "Arlong Park."

Konohamaru palmed a fist as he followed after Naruto in the direction of the pirate base, "About damn time. These guys have been pushing my buttons ever since I got here." On their way out of the village, they walked past Nami who was running in the direction of the doctor's office, tears streaming down her face. Konohamaru glanced in her direction, "...Making such a girl cry. Can I call dibs on Arlong?"

Naruto shook his head, "Sorry, he's mine. He feels that humans are inferior, well then, I'll just have him see how inferior _I _am." He stopped momentarily, "You can have the rest of the crew though."

Konohamaru shrugged, "That's good enough for me."

XxX

(Outside Arlong Park)

Naruto and Konohamaru came to a stop at the east gate where they saw Johnny and Yosaku get thrown out by a couple of fishmen, their bodies bloody and bruised. They walked towards them, "What the hell happened to you guys?" Konohamaru asked as he looked down at the swordsmen.

The two pirate hunters looked up at the two unknown teenagers, "We heard what they did to Nami-aneue and we tried to avenge her...we almost had them but they were just to many. We can't face her like this."

Naruto and Konohamaru shared a look, "Yeah," The blonde of the two drawled slowly, "Okay, sure. Good try boys, Nami'll appreciate it." They went to move past them but were stopped by a shout.

"Naruto! Konohamaru!" Silk cried out as she ran after them, panting heavily and surprising Naruto as she seemed to be powering through the resistance that was placed on her bodies without too much difficulty.

"Silk-chan," Naruto said as she came to a stop in front of them, "What are you doing here?"

Silk leaned forward slightly and placed her hands on her thighs before taking in several deep breaths of air, "I want to fight." She said, eyeing the two ninja resolutely.

"No." Both ninjas said in unison.

"Why?"

"Well, first of all," Naruto began as he listed reasons off, "You're nowhere near ready yet. And secondly, you don't have your sword with you."

The girl blinked before checking herself and noticing that she didn't have her weapons on her, but that didn't stop her, "I don't need a sword to fight."

Naruto shook his head, "I said this earlier Silk-chan, you're not fighting these guys. You're not ready yet, but what you can do is look after these guys for us. They look like they need it." He said indicating towards Johnny and Yosaku who had no idea what they were talking about.

Silk wanted to argue before relenting, "Fine." She said with a pout, "I'll look after them." She said as she kneed down beside them.

Johnny and Yosaku watched as Naruto and Konohamaru made their way towards the east gate, "Are they doing what I think they're going to do?" Johnny asked slowly, his glasses sliding down his face slightly.

Yosaku could only dumbly nod his head as he watched them, "If it's the same thing I'm thinking, I think so."

"They're going to get themselves killed."

With Naruto and Konohamaru, they had come to stop a few short yards away from the gate. The two eyed the large gate, "So what's the plan boss?" Konohamaru asked as he craned his neck around.

"Get in there and kick-ass." Naruto replied in a succinct manner.

Konohamaru nodded before bringing up a hand to his chin and stroking it, "...So does that mean I can start the party of in a showy manner?"

"By all means," Naruto said with a toothy grin that showed off his canines, "Wow me."

Konohamaru grinned in the same manner as he quickly brought his hands together in three hand seals before resting in the tiger seal, "Oh I will," The ground began in front of the two began to liquefy before surging forward in a mud-slide towards the east gate and smashing into it, not breaking down the gate fully but clearly destabilising it and putting several dents into it, "Doton: Doryu Taiga (Earth Release: Earth Flow River)!"

Naruto looked on as various amounts of alarm could be heard from the opposite side of the gate, "I'm not wow'ed." He pointed out as he stroked his chin, his eyes squinted shut.

"I'm not done yet." Konohamaru said as he went through another short sequence of hand chains. From the liquefied mud, a form began to rise up before taking a colossal form of the top portion of a dragons head that opened its mouth in the direction of the gate and Arlong Park in general, a sinister orange-red glow emanating from the back of its throat, "Doton: Doryudan (Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet)!"

From the dragon's mouth, flaming balls of mud the size of cannonballs were shot out in the direction of the gate, obliterating it with several other volley's bypassing the gate completely and hitting targets within the confines of the compound itself.

Konohamaru grinned as he released his jutsu, the dragon turning back to mud after its job has been done, "So? Did that wow you?"

"...You do realise our ship is in there right?" Naruto asked with a dry tone as he used chakra to stay atop the mud as he walked through the obliterated gates and into the compound.

Konohamaru blinked from beside Naruto before rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner, "Haha, I'm sure it's fine." He said rather weakly, hoping that their ship was indeed fine and that none of his attacks had managed to hit it.

The two came to a halt inside the compound and Naruto couldn't help but be impressed by Konohamaru. He had come a long way from the brat that followed him around miserably when he was a kid. The only building that was left relatively unscathed was the tall tower like building that sat in the middle of the complex, where Arlong sat on a throne glaring directly at them. All around, the other buildings bore signs of damage, some even having been reduced to rubble.

Naruto could see more than his fair share of bodies lying on the ground unmoving covered by burning mud inside an impact crater, some that were rolling around the ground trying to put out the flames on the mud and others that were jumping into the large pool that was connected to the ocean were he saw their ship, unharmed.

"Okay, you didn't damage the ship," Naruto said as he gave several once overs to their ship, "Good job Konohamaru. I'm sufficiently wow'ed."

"Sufficiently?" Konohamaru repeated, "I don't want sufficient, I want 'jaw dropping' kind of wow'ed."

Before Naruto could reply, Arlong spoke up, his voice booming and filled with anger, reaching them from his seat on the other side of compound, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Naruto, this is Konohamaru." The blonde ninja introduced himself to the shark-like fishman with a toothy grin on his face before pointing to the black and orange striped ship, "And that over there? Yeah, that's my ship. And I want it back, but be warned, I might turn you into paste whilst I'm at it."

* * *

**AN: Second chapter done! Oh yeah.**

**Now onto Naruto, I'm rather conflicted on whether he still has Six Paths Sage Mode, I assume he does because Sasuke still has his Rinnegan, so I'm going to carry out this story thinking that he does. Don't try and prove me wrong, my story my rules (8). **

**And also because he's the best of friends with all of the bijuu, he can use their special abilities and thus he can use a couple of kekkei genkais and also has all the five basic nature transformations. So don't be surprised if I throw something out that you think Naruto doesn't have, according to my research site, he has it and I've used it for all my stories.**

**And has anyone watched the Last? If you have, I pity you, because I watched it and I wanted my money back. I mean of all the half-baked plots to ever conceive, they went with the moon coming down on the Earth and apart from some meteors, there was no tsunamis whatsoever happening around the world due to the moon getting closer to the earth and breaking apart?**

**And oh yes, let's also not forget that apparently ninja can breathe in space. I could have bought Naruto and Toneri with some pinch of salt due to their special chakra cloaks, but the rest of the guys? Eh no. They should have suffocated and froze over the moment they went onto the moon's surface. And apparently, they don't need any sort of radios or communication devices to speak in the void of space where there's nothing for sound to travel through.**

**And then there's the fact that Toneri cut the moon in half...yet that had no effect on the tidal waves of earth, again.**

**I could forgive all this, I really could because I don't even like physics to begin with if it didn't suck so much. If I wanted to watch a shitty ass romantic movie, I would go over to the house next door where all the girls who are my friends live (note what I did there ;)). Frankly Kishimoto , you have disappointed me and I worry about this future Boruto movie that's coming out.**

**The Last was just another way for him to line his pockets and I can't really blame him for doing that since I would more than likely do it myself if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't even bother using the last to try and answer the all important question that I'm going to be winging in my Naruto/OP story..._where the fuck did Kaguya come from_? I'm more interested in that rather than Hamura's celestial decree and other shit like that. There's absolutely no back story whatsoever on Kaguya and I so wanted to know and for also forcing down those cliched NaruHina scenes down our throats.**

**Fuck, we get it, NaruHina somehow end up together after so long even though Naruto somehow magically forgets that he's been boning for Sakura since the Academy and boom, he's now boning for Hinata in the span of a few days after a magic scarf feels incident.**

**Oh yeah, apparently Naruto knew the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu before he was in the Academy, let alone before he learned it from the Scroll of Sealings he stole...someone really lost the ball with that movie.**

**Well, my rant is over, Raiden out boys and girls. Leave a review.**


	3. Man vs Fish

_Disclaimer I don't own Naruto or One Piece_

* * *

Man Vs Fish

Arlong took a long hard look at the two humans that dared to attack his compound. His eyes panned around his damaged compound as he took in the unmoving forms of some of his comrades as they laid on the ground, "You are going to die." He said simply as his eyes went back to the humans who were seemingly at ease or didn't take the threat seriously, "You are all going to die. I am going to make your deaths as slow and painful as possible. When I'm done with you, you will be begging for death."

Naruto looked at Arlong before shaking his head, laughing at the same time, "See, that would be scary to anyone else other than me. I have been threatened by single-handedly the most powerful bitch I have ever laid my eyes on that all other threats are bland and tame in comparison."

Konohamaru raised a hand, "You don't scare me either. Seen way scarier people than you."

The saw-nosed fishman took a moment to look at the two, seeing his threat had no effect on them. He then laughed loudly, "For a bunch of puny humans, you have quite the courage don't you? Let's see how courageous you are when my boys and me are done with you." Without any further prompting, the mermen edged closer to Naruto and Konohamaru, drawing swords and flintlock pistols as they did so.

Naruto looked around before stepping aside, "All yours Konohamaru, like I promised. Try not to break your toys."

"I'm not promising anything." The younger boy said as he cracked his knuckles, a serious look on his face.

XxX

Johnny, Yosaku and Silk watched through the destroyed gates as the quite angry mermen moved ever closer to the two boys that had so casually walked into the proverbial meat house without seemingly a care in the world.

Johnny looked at the pretty, blonde haired girl that had come with them. He noted that she had something of a worried look on her face, "Eh, are your friends going to be alright?" He asked plaintively.

Silk turned to look at him, her ponytail whipping to the side with the movement, "...I think so. They are plenty strong." She said in an unconvincing manner. She then turned around and saw that the villagers from Cocoyashi storming down the path, weapons in their hands, "Eh, that can't be good."

"Yeah," Naruto's voice agreed with her in a slow drawl, "That's can't be good at all." Johnny, Yosaku and Silk screamed as they jumped several feet away from the blonde ninja who had suddenly appeared in their midst. Naruto had a wince on his face as he used a finger to try and soothe his ears, "Why did you shout so loudly?"

Yosaku pointed at him with an accusing finger, "You just appeared out of nowhere!" He stopped, blinked and whipped his head in the direction of the compound to see Konohamaru and Naruto still standing within the encirclement of the Fishmen Pirates. He gaped before pointing at him again, "How the hell are you here and over there at the same time!?"

The blonde ninja turned his head in the direction of where his other 'self' stood beside Konohamaru before shrugging, "I'm a ninja." He said as if that explained everything, when in fact, it served to explain nothing and only furthered the confusion of the others, "Oh right, hold on." He said as he jogged towards the entrance and plopped himself on the ground.

The villagers came to a halt in front of Naruto who sat down on the ground. Nojiko who was with the group made to the front, "Naruto?" She let out in surprise at seeing the person blocking their path, "What are you doing? Actually, never mind, can you get out of the way, we have business with Arlong."

"Pretty sure you do." Naruto replied with a nod of the head, "But I can't do that. My old master would be angry with me if I let a pretty girl like you just march towards her death." He said with something of a laugh. Jiraiya would have probably gone all out to try and impress Nojiko in a bid to get into her pants, "The same for the rest of you. Me and Konohamaru have this."

Nojiko bit her lip as she pointed inside the compound, "Have this? It's two against how many exactly? And you are out here whils-." She stopped when she noticed Naruto and Konohamaru. She and the other villagers blinked at the sight before blinking from the Naruto inside the compound and the one outside, "...How the hell are you here and there at the same time?"

Naruto, once again, did his best to explain his abilities, "I'm simply amazing." Which, like the first time, didn't do anything other than confuse the people who were listening.

Nojiko just looked at him owlishly before turning her head towards Silk, Johnny and Yosaku. The female of the three shrugged her slender shoulders, "He tried to explain it to us, but all we got was that he was a ninja." She started getting the feeling Naruto was never going to answer a question straight unless he was really forced too.

"You two are going to get yourselves killed." Nojiko said as she snapped her head back to the Naruto in front of her. She was surprised, like many of the others when he laughed, "What's so funny?" She asked, after getting over her surprise.

The blonde powerhouse wiped a tear away from his eyes, "What's so funny is that you think me and Konohamaru would be done in by a bunch of thugs." He said with some distaste in her voice when referencing to Arlong and his crew. He shook his head and turned his blue eyes onto Nojiko's own, giving her an earnest look, "But that's alright. You haven't seen me and Konohamaru in action have you? Just so you know, it's pointless worrying about me, you sort of have to be some kind of tough to put me down. Konohamaru is the one you have to worry about, but he's plenty strong and will only get stronger and stronger with time."

Luffy, Usopp, Sanji and Zoro made their way towards the compound. They made their way past the mob of villagers to the front and Usopp did a double take at what he was seeing within the compound's walls, "What the hell are they doing!? They are going to get themselves killed!" He didn't know them that well since they had only met just a few short hours ago, but if they planned on committing suicide, they were sure going a painful way round it. He then blinked and turned from the Naruto inside the compound to the one obstructing the way in, "How the hell are you here and over there at the same time!?"

"I'm simply brilliant." Naruto replied to the question, not answering anything once more. He panned his head in the direction of the compound, "Although these questions about how I'm here and there at the same time are starting to get annoying..." Without a delay, the Naruto inside the compound standing next to Konohamaru disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto grinned, "There we go. Now it isn't so confusing anymore is it?"

Sanji pointed a lame finger at him, "Devil Fruit?"

Naruto shook his head, "Pure brilliance and a side pinch of awesome."

Silk could only palm her face. Either Naruto probably had one of the worst ego problems in the world or he was just good at not answering questions was something that she was not particularly feeling fond off.

XxX

Konohamaru looked around with a contemplating look on his face. The mermen had stopped advancing and had confusion written on their faces when they saw the blonde human, Naruto, standing next to the other human suddenly disappear into a puff of smoke.

The Sarutobi clansman didn't pay heed to any of this though as he was deep in thought, '...Should I summon the Kongonyoi (Adamantine Staff) or not?' He argued with himself. He took a look around of his opponents before shaking his head, 'Probably not. None of them look that tough and Enma will just tear into me for summoning him for something like this.' That, and the Staff was slightly overkill considering, once again, the level of opponents he was going to face.

Konohamaru clapped his hands together, snapping the mermen out of their confused states, "Alright, let's get this going!" He said as he rolled through hand-seals, confusing the mermen once more as they had no idea what he was doing, "I still haven't mastered this, but let's see how it goes, Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)!"

With a slam of both of his palms on the ground, in a radius of several feet around him, the ground suddenly liquefied and turned into mud, creating a swamp. Many of the mermen found themselves trapped in the swamp that had appeared out of nowhere and struggled to escape as they found themselves ensnared by the chakra infused mud and they began to sink into the depths of the swamp.

Konohamaru lifted his hands off the ground, having used chakra to stay atop the swamp and looked around with a frown, "Wow, that jutsu is really difficult to learn. Got a good number of them though." He bend his knees and leapt into the sky, going through even more hand signs as he reached the apex of his jump, several feet into the air, "And here's another one, Katon: Haisekisho (Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning)!"

From the mouth of the teenage ninja, he spewed out a stream of chakra infused gun-powder that covered the entirety of the mini-swap he had created, along with its trapped quarry. The gunpowder hung in the air like a cloud of smoke, before Konohamaru clicked his teeth together to create a spark that ignited the gunpowder, creating a powerful explosion.

XxX

Various cries of alarm rang out through the mob of villagers as the shockwave from the explosion hit them. Naruto had to quickly move to bat away a flying piece of debris that nearly introduced itself at Nojiko and several other unlucky villagers.

The shockwave eventually died down and allowed the villagers to get the wits about them. The blue-haired older sister of Nami had a hand to her chest as she eyed the piece of debris that had nearly ended her. Her brown eyes that darted to Naruto's form, "Thank you."

Naruto looked at her and gave her a shrug, "No problem. Sort of would ruin the point if you lot died from something of a friendly fire incident." He then turned his head towards the compound and yelled at Konohamaru who had landed on a building, "Dammit Konohamaru, how much chakra did you put in that jutsu!? There's civilians watching!"

"Oh, right. Sorry!" The younger boy apologised with a quick bow in the direction of the villagers before returning his attention to the compound that was covered in dust.

The dust cleared and the eyes of the villagers and the pirate spectators eyes widened at the destruction they saw. Where the swamp laying, there was now only a large crater that was slowly being filled with water from the waterway. Within the crater and the surrounding area, there were charred remains, some not even whole but just loose limbs and other body parts of mermen that had been burned and blown to bits.

"Woah!" Luffy said, his eyes widened in awe at the sight. He was watching the ongoing fight from atop one of the compounds walls, "He's awesome! I'll ask him to join my crew!"

Naruto pointed a finger at the straw-hat wearing boy, "Oh no you don't! He's mine!" He said rather defensively and a tad bit possessively, "And anyway, he's not even a damned pirate!"

The villagers eyed Konohamaru with widened eyes, "What the hell? Who the hell is this guy?"

"Not only can he create swamps, he can also stand on them and spit out gunpowder, enough of it to create such a large crater?"

"Eh, actually, the mud served to act as a propellant to the explosion." Naruto interjected matter-of-factly, "It shouldn't have been nowhere near as large as it was...either that, or he used to much chakra." The villagers were still in awe at the sight they were being borne witness to, so they just ignored what Naruto had uttered, much to his annoyance.

Genzo looked at Konohamaru before his eyes turned to Naruto. He took a step forward at the blonde, "Why?"

Naruto squinted his eyes shut and cocked his head to the side, "...Why what?" The females in attendance felt like glomping him at the cute expression he had just made.

"What is the reason for risking your lives in a fight that doesn't concern you?" Genzo said as he went into further detail of his question, "Why is this important to you?"

Naruto moved his head back to its proper position with a smile on his face, "Do I need a reason to do a good deed? I'm sure ridding you of a bastard like this is a good deed. That and also because he got Nojiko shot and made her sister cry." He explained, "...And he also has my ship. Can't really go anywhere else without my ship."

XxX

Arlong glared up at Konohamaru with murder in his eyes, his eyes bloodshot and his body slightly covered in soot and dust from the explosion. A growl escaped from his mouth, "Hachi...call our little friend from the sea and let him deal with it."

Hachi, an octopus fishman stepped forward and cupped his hands with two of his eight swords, "Come on out my powerful monster! Mohmoo! I've got an extra snack for you!"

Konohamaru blinked before feeling a presence coming from the waterway. He turned his attention to the waterway and saw something travelling in his direction underneath the water, barely submerged. Eventually, it surfaced itself to reveal itself from underwater to reveal it was a cow-like creature of massive size, looking down at him angrily.

Konohamaru blinked as he tried to process what he was seeing. He gave up after a few seconds, "Okay..." He began, "What the hell are you supposed to be?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Naruto's voice travelled into his ears from the gates, having heard his question, "It's a cow-fish!"

'Is such a thing even possible?' Konohamaru asked himself with a sweat drop. But he did have another question that needed answering, "...Does it taste like fish or beef? Or some kind of crazy mixture of both?" The thought repulsed him, but beef and pork tasted alright mixed together, so why not fish and...beef?

At this question, Sanji stepped up, smoking wafting of his cigarette, "Honestly, I've been wondering that myself. Kill it and let's find out."

Luffy pointed at the creature, "Hey! We beat that thing when we first got here!"

Konohamaru raised an eyebrow when he saw the cow-fish-thingy snap its head in the direction of Luffy. It then started cowering and the sight was rather pathetic so he decided to give it a break, "You know what? Why don't you just leave?" He offered, as if the creature could understand him, "If you are scared of that guy, then you should be plenty scared of me."

Mohmoo looked at the grinning Luffy then back to the rather placid expression of Konohamaru who was still trying to see how such a creature came into the world, then it turned its head back to Luffy, then back to Konohamaru before turning its head and decided to leave. Discretion was the better part of valour as the old saying went.

Konohamaru smiled, "Good...cow-fish-thingy."

"Mohmoo, what are you doing?" Arlong's voice stopped in dead in its tracks, "Okay, if you really want to go. Just go. I won't stop you." He said, although his tone of voice showed that if the creature did leave, it was going to end up regretting its choice.

The creature suddenly whipped its head to face Konohamaru with narrowed eyes and intent to kill, "MOHMOO!"

"Oh bad choice." Konohamaru said as the sea-cow rushed at him through the water. He held out a hand where a blue ball of swirling energy started forming, "_Really_ bad choice." He stressed as the held the blue ball of energy in his hands as it expanded in size.

The seacow shot out of the water, its mouth gaping open in an aim to devour him whole. Konohamaru watched as it reached the apex of its climb before vanishing in a coverless shunshin and appearing underneath it, only to jump up and smash the giant ball of energy into its stomach, "Odama Rasengan (Great Ball Spiraling Sphere)!"

Konohamaru landed on the ground and lifted his head with a satisfied look on his face as he saw the giant sea monster spin off into the distance before crashing into the water, making a giant splash.

He dusted his hands, a silly grin on his face, "Alright, who's next eh?" He asked as he turned to the rest of the last of the Fishmen Pirates.

XxX

"What was that?" One of the villagers asked, his voice full of shock and wonder, "What kind of attack did he use to send that giant monster from the Grand Line flying like it was nothing?"

Another villager spoke up as they panned the compound that was known as Arlong Park that was being destroyed by the current battle raging on, "What destructive power...is this really the power of a human? It's too much to believe!"

"To think their would be humans who are able to fight on par with mermen...unbelievable."

Naruto scoffed, "They aren't that tough. I could have taken them on when I was nothing more than twelve years old." Of course he wasn't going to say that he would have probably swarmed them with an uncountable number of clones, but that was neither here nor there...and it wasn't as if they were asking for details.

Nojiko managed to pry her eyes away from Konohamaru's form and to Naruto, "...Just who are you two?"

Naruto gave the girl a grin, "Uzumaki Naruto and Sarutobi Konohamaru. Two of the best ninjas you will ever have the pleasure of meeting pretty lady." He stopped, blinked at what he said, before slapping himself in the cheek, "Forget the last part of what I just said. The Jiraiya is slowly encroaching on me. He always did say it was going to pull me in the older I got..." He mumbled to himself.

Nojiko blinked in confusion, "The Jiraiya?" She repeated dumbfoundedly. What the hell was the 'Jiraiya'?

Genzo shook his head at the sight that he was seeing, "Just what sort of Devil Fruits did you two eat to get your powers?" He asked, motioning a finger towards the youngest ninja in the compound, "Especially to get the level of power that young man has."

Naruto quirked a curious eyebrow, "Devil Fruits? You people keep mentioning these 'Devil Fruits'…" He mumbled before shaking his head, "Sorry, but this is all us. No fruit gave us the abilities that we have."

Zoro raised an eyebrow, "Then how can you do the things you do?" He thumbed in the direction of Konohamaru, "Haven't seen anything like the things he's done in my life."

"Hard-work." Naruto replied with a grin on his face, "Good ol' hard-work. Years of effort of constant training and practice to hone our skills to be able to handle our enemies in a suitable fashion. More so for me as I learned I had to get really strong in a short amount of time if I ever planned on living till my sixteenth birthday."

Sanji was curious, "How come?"

Naruto leaned onto one of the destroyed gates as he noticed everyone's attention was on him now, "I learned when I was twelve years old, around when I nearly turned thirteen, that a bunch of criminals that could give some of the strongest people in my village a run for their money was after me." He laughed to himself, "One of them was strong enough to take on my entire village of ninja single-handedly. And nearly all of them could do something like this." He said as he thumbed in the direction of the compound where Konohamaru had run amok.

Eyes bulged before Nojiko spoke, "There are _others_ who could so something like this from where you are from?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied simply with a nod of the head, "A bunch of us, thousands. Funny thing is, Konohamaru is a chunin."

"Chunin?"

He nodded, "Chunin. It goes Student, Genin, Chunin, Jounin and if you are really lucky and strong enough, Kage."

Zoro as quick to figure it out, "Those are ranks." He said before looking at Konohamaru, "I don't know what a chunin is, but I take it you have to be some kind of tough to be one?" He asked and received a nod from Naruto, "And what are you?"

The ninja gave him a grin, "I'm a jounin...but I'm considered Kage-level in terms of power."

"And what does Kage-level mean exactly?"

Naruto smiled knowingly, "It means that I'm a one man army. Literally."

XxX

"Seriously," Konohamaru said, looking at Arlong and three other mermen, "Who's next? Don't make me wait."

Arlong growled from his seat, his eyes even more red than they were, "Chu! Hachibi! Kuroobi! Kill this worthless human already!"

"Oh, you have names." The dark-haired teenage ninja said as he looked at the three mermen that had stepped forward, "So you aren't nobodies then, but being a somebody isn't that much of a step-up from being a nobody."

Chu, a muscular looking fishman with blue skin and thick lips, dressed in a striped blue and black vest, dark coloured pants and sandals stepped forward, "Talk all you want kid. You can't beat us. We aren't weak like the rest of the crew, we're the officers, the elites." He then abruptly inhaled and spit a bullet of water from his mouth at Konohamaru's head. The young ninja dodged easily enough, Chu repeated the action several times, each time Konohamaru was up to the call and dodged each bullet of water.

Chu's brow started twitching in annoyance before he started shooting out rapid shots of water at him. He smirked when several bullets finally hit him, only for Konohamaru to liquefy and turn into mud, "...What?" The fishman let out in surprise.

"Doton: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Earth Release: Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" Konohamaru's voice rang out from somewhere as he calmly explained what had just happened.

Chu looked around, trying to locate the young boy, "Come out and face me you coward!" No sooner had he asked, the ninja's hands emerged from the ground and grabbed onto his ankles before dragging him underground up to his neck, "What? What the hell is this!?"

Konohamaru appeared in front of him in a crouch and patted the fishman on the head with a grin on his face, "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu) is what it is." He had to abruptly hand spring away when Chu puffed up his lips to shoot another blast of water at him, "Alright, forgot you can do that." He said as he fished a kunai from his supply pouch and threw it at Chu's unmoving head, the kunai landing straight between the eyes with a dull, wet thunk of a sound, "Well, that takes care of him."

"Hyakumaigawara Seiken (Hundred Tile True Punch)!"

Konohamaru moved his head out of the way of a punch that rippled past his head. He blinked as he looked at the owner, "Sneak attack?" He said as he looked at the ray-like fishman with the grey skin who wore a black gi and had his black hair done up into two short bundles, "Well, I guess that's the only way for you to beat me."

Kuroobi growled before launching a vicious assault of punches at Konohamaru. Konohamaru was able to swiftly dodge each and every one of the attacks and whenever he felt like it, he would always retaliate with quick jabs to the face of the gi wearing fishman.

"Takoashi Kiken (Octopus Foot Miracle Swords)!"

Konohamaru flipped backwards high into the air to avoid wild swings of eight swords from the octopus fishman Hatchi. He landed several feet away from them with a slightly perturbed look on his face, "Hey! That could have killed me!"

"That's the point, duh!" The octopus fishman replied.

Konohamaru blinked, "Well...I can't really disagree with you on that." With his piece said, he rushed forward, going through hand-seals and by now having seen what happens whenever he did those strange hand signs, Kuroobi and Hatchi were prepared, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)!"

Konohamaru came to a skid halting as he brought a hand in the half-tiger seal to his chin. From his mouth, he shot out a gigantic roaring ball of fire. The two mermen quickly made to evade the fast-moving ball of fire and jumped to the side, separating them.

"Coward!" Kuroobi growled as he looked around for any sign of Konohamaru, "All you have are those stupid parlour tricks of yours!"

"Parlour tricks?" Konohamaru said in indignation, "How the hell is anything I've done today a parlour trick!?"

Kuroobi turned to face Konohamaru only to see Hatchi dropping to the ground unconscious, his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He glared murderously at him, "You haven't fought anyone face to face with skill, only using your tricks to fight."

"You want to fight me head-on? Fine. You'll regret it."

Kuroobi sat himself up in a traditional stance, "You will be the one regretting it. I'll show you the true essence of Fishman Karate! This punch will be more than enough to obliterate a lowly human like you."

Konohamaru sat himself up to in a stance, "We'll see about that."

The two charged at each other and each threw a punch aimed at each other at the same time.

"Senmaigawara Seiken (Thousand Tile True Punch)!" Kuroobi threw his punch with an even greater intensity than that of his last one. He smirked as he felt his fist make contact with Konohamaru's fist, "You just lost your arm you lowly human!" He saw his opponent smirk and had to blink when he felt a numbness in his arm. He turned his head to look at it before a sudden searing pain rushed onto him, "_Argh!_" He screamed as he dropped to his knees, his good arm clutching onto his now ruined arm that had several odd protrusions and was bent awkwardly.

"It seems like you are the one who lost his arm instead." Konohamaru said, blowing the top of his fist in a nonchalant manner.

"H-How?" The ray-fishman asked as tears of pain pricked at the back of his eyes.

"Doton: Domu (Earth Release: Earth Spear)…" Konohamaru replied as the hand he used to punch darkened in colour, "I can harden any part of my skin to the same level of a diamond...I don't think you have anything in your arsenal that can shatter a diamond. Didn't actually need to harden my skin to such a degree anyway." He finished off as he landed a round-house kick to the temple of the head, knocking the fishman out.

Konohamaru looked around and noticed that he had taken care of every mermen in the compound apart from the one sitting on his throne, glaring down at him with angry, beady eyes. He pointed at him, "Hey! Don't look at me like that, you brought this down onto yourself! I so want to kick your ass, but I'll just have to be content with watching him kick your ass instead!"

And with his piece said, he turned on his heel, placed his hands behind his head and made his way for the gate without a care for the world, ever feeling the eyes of Arlong on his back as he stewed in rage.

'I bet this is making him angry.' Konohamaru mused to himself as he decided to add insult to injury by starting to whistle a jaunty tune.

XxX

Naruto snickered to himself as he saw Arlong shoot daggers into Konohamaru's back, "That must be insulting."

"I'm surprised he didn't jump him." Zoro said in agreement, nodding his head as he did so, "But is that a good idea? Turning his back on an enemy like that?"

Naruto stopped snickering but still had a look of amusement on his face, "Arlong will have to be pretty quick to get the drop on him. Konohamaru is one of the better ninjas when it comes to taijutsu."

Silk had a look of disbelief on her face, "Konohamaru is that strong?" She asked, "How old is he?"

"Fifteen." Naruto looked around when he noticed several people in the group suddenly drop their shoulders in dejection at the answer, "...What's wrong with you guys?"

Sanji laughed bitterly, "...He's four years younger than me and he can take on an entire notorious pirate crew by himself..." He sighed, "That's rather depressing."

Sanji's fellow blonde in Silk couldn't help but laugh, "I'm the same age but I wouldn't have been able to do that myself..."

"Well..." Naruto began as he scratched his cheek, "We do start training pretty early, so you can't be blamed for that. Our country is pretty militarised." He slapped himself on his cheeks to get the blood flowing, "Alright, time for me to step in then." He said as he began to make his way towards Arlong, making sure to circumvent the new pool that had been previously a crater, "Nicely done Konohamaru." He said as he passed his fellow ninja, holding up a hand for a high five.

Konohamaru grinned as he gave the high five, "Thanks boss!"

Naruto walked towards the last remaining, standing building with Arlong Park, the main tower and stopped at the foot of the stairs that led up to Arlong's throne. The blonde took an appreciative look around of his fellow ninjas work, "...Fine work if I have to say so myself. Although I would have made a bigger crater than that one."

The armrests of Arlong's throne cracked underneath the pressure he was putting on them as he glared murder on Naruto's form. All he could see was red as he looked down at the human in front of him that had appeared in front of him just today and had caused the ruin of his empire in a matter of a few minutes.

No, that was the other human who had angered him even more by simply turning his back on him as if he wasn't worth the time. He was going to enjoy killing them, but he was a kind man, he would give the apparent leader of the other human a choice, "Surrender." Arlong said, his eyes shadowed, "If you do, I'll spare the lives of everyone in Cocoyashi village. If you don't I'll kill every man, woman and child except for my dear Nami of course. I still need her to make me my maps."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "...You still actually believe you have a chance after everything you have just been made witness to?" He asked, somewhat in disbelief, "How deluded are you?"

Arlong growled, making a show of his sharp teeth, "I'm a cut above the rest of those fools. I'm the captain of the Arlong Pirates!"

"_Former_ captain of the Arlong Pirates." Naruto corrected. He spread out his arms across the devastation of Arlong Park, indicating towards the unmoving bodies of his crew, "You don't have a crew anymore. Most of them are dead and I doubt the ones Konohamaru left alive are in any fighting fit shape."

The saw-nosed fishman ground his teeth together, "Do you even know why I'm in East Blue? In this weakest of all seas? Because Jinbei thought I was too dangerous to remain in the Sun Pirates."

Naruto gave him a blank look, "I have no idea who Jinbei is nor who the hell the Sun Pirates are and neither do I give a damn."

Arlong growled and grabbed a handful of water and threw it at him. The water hit Naruto but only for him to disappear in a puff of smoke. The fishman then found himself getting drilled right in the face, sending him flying through the bottom floor of his tower.

Naruto looked at his fist with a satisfied look about him, "That felt _good._ I only wish I had been able to do that to Gato."

XxX

Nami eventually made her way towards Arlong Park and found the previous group of villagers watching something happening within the confines of Arlong Park. Some of the villagers were clamouring over the walls to get a good view. She approached them carefully, "What's going on?"

The villagers turned to face Nami, excitement in their eyes, "Nami, that blonde haired kid and his friend are destroying the Arlong Pirates."

Nami blinked before running to the front, "What, really?" She asked where she saw Nojiko looking through the gate, "Are they really?"

Nojiko gave her little sister a nod of the head in confirmation, "Yes. They just walked in and started fighting. The Arlong Pirates haven't been able to lay a single hand on them."

Konohamaru raised a hand, "You do realise I did most of the fighting right? I like took out 99% of them...boss is just taking out the last remaining 1%." He noticed that the two sisters were eagerly talking to each other before he harrumphed and looked away with a pout, "Alright then, ignore me why don't you. No-one ever appreciates the things I do."

Silk went towards Konohamaru and placed a hand on his head and ruffled it up with a smile on her face, "I appreciate what you did. I didn't think you were that strong!"

Konohamaru gave her a look, "I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult..." The way she said it, she said it as if she thought that he wasn't that strong...even though he routinely kicked her butt when they had been training her over the past week.

"Nami!"

The orange haired girl turned her attention towards Luffy, who had a big, stupid grin on his face, sitting atop the wall, "It looks like you aren't part of the Arlong Pirates anymore! So how about coming with us?" Nami eyes widened as she felt herself tearing up. Even after everything she had done, Luffy still wanted her on his crew. She opened her mouth to speak but Luffy beat her to it, "You can tell me your answer after this. That Naruto guy is fighting now, I want to see what he can do, maybe him and that other one, Kono-something can join our crew!"

Konohamaru's eyebrow twitched, 'Kono-something? I'll show you Kono-something, you straw-hat wearing bastard!'

Meanwhile, Nojiko looked at Luffy and then at her sister with a smile on her face as she saw Nami struggling to hold back the tears, 'Looks like she found some great friends.'

XxX

Naruto stopped admiring his fist and thoughts of himself punching Gato when he was younger when he noticed Arlong step out of the hole he had created with the help of Naruto. The shark man walked towards Naruto before stopping and towering over him, looking down at him. He opened his mouth were his broken teeth fell out of his mouth to be immediately replaced by unbroken ones.

Naruto blinked before looking down at the broken teeth on the ground. He then looked back up at Arlong, "Huh, I thought I was the only one who could do that. Small world."

Arlong started snapping his teeth and lunged at Naruto, head first with an intent to take a large bite out of him. Naruto backtracked as he continued dodging Arlong's lunges before nailing the man in the chin with an uppercut, slamming his teeth together.

He quickly spit out his broken teeth were fresh, new ones immediately replaced them. Arlong tested the teeth out, "You filthy human! Mermen are naturally stronger than your pathetic species!"

"You're still singing the same old son even after everything you have seen?" Naruto said with a raised eyebrow. He brought a hand and scratched at his scalp, "...You do realise not accepting reality for what it is, is a worrying symptom of psychosis right?"

Arlong pulled out two pairs of his teeth and used them as makeshift knuckleduster. Naruto looked rather impressed at the sight as he dodged the fishman's attacks, "_That_ I can't do." He admitted as he sprung away from a swipe of an attack that destroyed a pillar, 'Why can't I do that?'

'**Because you aren't a damned fish?'** Kurama suggested from the depths of his mind.

'Oh, you're awake.' Naruto replied, his mind not on the fight that he was currently in, 'I would have figured you were sleeping.'

'**I was, then I saw what you were up to. Seems like fun. Why don't you just, I don't know, kill him? You could finish this all so easily and carry on with your little 'mission'.'**

'And by mission, you obviously mean find actually strong people to fight?'

'**Damn right. The world hasn't been introduced to the majesty that is the Kyuubi no Youko. People are actually starting to **_**like**_** me in the Elemental Nations.'**

Naruto raised an eyebrow, 'Isn't that a good thing?'

'**No dammit, I'm supposed to be viewed with fear and awe. People should tremble at the mere mentioning of my name.'**

Naruto sweat dropped, 'Ah yeah, whatever. I'll come back to you later on.' He finished off his mental conversation as he ducked a wide swing from Arlong, before shooting out a hand that smashed into his chin in a quick but powerful jab. Arlong stumbled backwards from the power of the hit before he felt a powerful kick connect into the side of his midriff, sending him flying into the water.

Naruto stared at the water for several seconds, "Does he really expect me to jump in after him?" He asked no-one in particular. Sure, it might make the fight last a few more seconds, but it wouldn't have resulted in his victory either way.

'**If this was you seven years ago, you would have already jumped into the water and killed us both.'**

Naruto laughed rather sheepishly, "Then it's a good thing that it's not me from seven years ago then." He said to himself as he walked towards the water, going through hand seals, "I'm so glad I have been keeping up with my chakra control. This would have taken far more hand seals than necessary," He reached the water and raised a hand, his five fingers outstretched, "Suiton: Goshokuzame (Water Release: Five Feeding Sharks)!"

The tips of his fingers glowed a faint blue as flames of chakra formed before he slammed his hand down onto the waters surface. The chakra was released into the water as five strings that quickly formed the shapes of sharks from the surrounding water before they quickly shot off deep into the water.

There was something to be said about sending sharks to hunt a fellow shark...but Naruto couldn't find the words to correctly portray the scene so he just kept himself quiet.

Through his chakra, he could feel that his sharks had found Arlong and were engaging him. He couldn't tell the amount of damage they had caused him, but he knew that they were causing damage nonetheless and his sharks were also taking damage as he felt a tug on his chakra whenever one of the sharks was damaged and needed to reform itself from the surrounding water.

He saw a shadow quickly speed towards the surface before shooting out of the water, high into the air. Naruto looked up to see it was a bloodied Arlong who was missing some flesh on his torso and more importantly, a left arm, which was nothing more than a stump.

It seemed as if one of his sharks had bitten quite the handful of out of its meal. His lips quirked at the pun.

Arlong crashed in the ground with a grunt of pain and struggled to get to his feet with only one arm. He glared at Naruto whilst on all fours, which were now all threes considering the loss of an arm, "I'll _kill_ you!" He hissed, "I'll make your death as painful as possible! I'll kill every single one of you worthless mongrels!"

"Says the guy missing an arm and a pound of flesh." Naruto said with a dull tone of voice and blank expression as he cancelled his jutsu. He rose to his feet and made his way towards Arlong, "Look, just give up, you can't win. I'm sure the *sniggers* villagers would be more merciful than me when it comes to judging you on you're the various evils you have visited upon them."

Arlong glared at him as he finally pushed himself to his feet, his face set into a fierce snarl of anger, hate and murder. Naruto stopped in front of him, looking up at the fishman whilst he looked down at him.

Arlong swung a hand, only for the hand to not even hit Naruto, but just flick blood on him as the hand was nothing more than the bloody stump that he had gained a few moments prior.

Naruto's lips quirked, "Need a hand?" He asked before landing a powerful punch into Arlong's abdomen, sending him flying into his tower once more, "I didn't think I would ever come across a time when I could say that. The classics are awesome."

The captain of the Arlong Pirates wasn't done yet though as he burst out of the walls of the tower holding onto a saw-like blade with his one good arm. Naruto blinked, "...I wouldn't use that if I were you...you might find yourself in a shocking experience." He could feel Konohamaru roll his eyes at what he had just said, but he ignored it.

Arlong roared and jumped down to the ground and ran towards Naruto, sword raised ready to bring it down on the blonde and cleave him in two. As he approached, Naruto calmly bit his thumb, dipped a bandaged finger into the blood and swiped it on the wrist of left hand were a seal matrix appeared.

A puff of smoke later, Naruto was holding the hilt of a sword in his bandaged hand, "Alright, let's do this." He said as he brought up the hilt and activated the sword were a crackle of lightning could be heard as a yellow blade of lightning formed from the hilt. He used the sword to block the sword strike from Arlong and watched with satisfaction as the lightning nature of the Raijin no Ken (Sword of the Thunder God) resulted in electricity from the blade of lightning itself jumping onto the metal sword of Arlong's and travelling down towards him, shocking him.

"Yeah," Naruto said as he watched Arlong scream out in pain as he the electricity danced around him, "Painful isn't it? I was of the same mind to when it was used against me."

XxX

Zoro looked at the fight happening in front of him with renewed interest, "What a weird sword." He commented, gaining several nods from his old bounty hunting buddies Johnny and Yosaku.

Konohamaru sniggered, "You think that's a weird sword? Then you clearly haven't seen the swords that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist carry around. Those are weird swords compared to that one. Hell, one of them is fully sentient."

"A fully sentient sword?" Yosaku said with a skeptical look about him, "Yeah, I don't believe that."

The Sarutobi clansman merely shrugged his shoulders, "Believe it or not, but back where we come from, there's all kinds of strange things. I doubt there's anything in this world that will surprise me or the boss."

Silk looked at the sword with sparkling eyes, "...Do you think Naruto can give me that?" She asked, "It looks so pretty."

Konohamaru blinked, "Eh, I don't know. It's a family heirloom to someone important to him. He might give it to you if you ask him nicely." But using it was a completely different matter as far as he was concerned. It needed a constant stream of chakra to be activated and Silk and the rest of humanity that Naruto and Konohamaru had met had enough chakra to go on living.

Hell, civilians in the Elemental Nations had more chakra than the civilians and people here.

She would probably die the first moment she tried to activate that thing.

XxX

Arlong's sword cluttered to the ground after it was released by the twitching fingers of Arlong. The fishman managed to stop himself screaming out in pain as arcs of electricity still danced around his body.

The smell of burnt flesh and fried fish was heavy in the air as the pirate glared down at Naruto, "Y-You...!" He struggled to speak as his body would spasm randomly from the prolonged electric shock it had received.

"Yes me." Naruto said plainly before catching Arlong with a snap kick to the chin that sent him flying into the top of his tower. He waited for him to show himself and saw that he wasn't going to come down so he jumped up towards the newly made hole in the tower.

Say what you will about the place, but Arlong had built the main tower of his compound to last. He sure was sure that it had spotted several holes in its structure by now, along with various other damages caused by Konohamaru, especially with his slightly, over-the-top kills with his fire jutsu.

He entered a room that was filled with cartography instruments and on the walls various maps and sketches, "The hell is this place?" He asked with a frown, he could already made a guess. The story was still fresh in his mind.

Arlong picked himself up using a desk as support, his body continuing to spasm involuntary and smoke rising from the burnt and seared skin on his persons, "The room where I keep the maps Nami has spent eight years writing. It isn't difficult for a merman to research navigation but its so difficult finding a good navigator. Out of all the people I've sought out in the world, no-one can draw maps quite like her. That girl is a genius!"

Naruto looked around the room, "Ohh...genius huh? She must be really talented."

Arlong gave Naruto a bloody grin despite the twitches of his lips and mouth, "There is nothing more tragic than wasting those God-given talents, even if she comes from such a puny species like yours!"

The blonde noticed a pen on the floor and picked it up. He examined it and noticed the crust on it and the faint smell it gave off, "This is blood..."

"For Nami, there is no better happiness than staying here and continuing to draw maps, for the sake of my ambition that is!" He gloated, the grin still on his face, even as blood flowed from his mouth, "Once we Fishmen learn everything about the ocean from her maps, we will be invincible. The world shall then become my empire! This island, East Blue in essence shall be my stepping stone. Do you think you can use Nami better than me!?"

Naruto had a disgusted look on his face as he glared at Arlong, "Use? What is she, some tool? I already had this conversation once, at least that person had some good in him. You? There's no talking with you."

"If I were to liken a filthy species like you, it would be to rats, but Nami would be a cheeky little cat. In any case, she's a cute little thing, I'll have her continue drawing maps for me for forever that is. I'll feed her, and even buy her any clothes that she wants! That girl will never be in want for as long as she lives! In return all she has to do is draw these lovely maps for me." He cast Naruto a bloody grin, a bloody, evil grin, "Because we are friends."

Naruto blinked and shook his head, "I thought I was the one with the serious development problems. Did your mother drop you on the head as a baby? What kind of friend does any of the things you have done?" But then again, he couldn't really speak now could he? Sasuke had tried to kill him several times, yet he had continued to pine after him and call him his best friend. He was essentially calling the kettle black. He shook his head, "This place has to go. I haven't spoken to her fully, but I know she's a sweet girl...Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenis Sage Fire Jutsu)!" A volley of fireballs escaped from Naruto's mouth, hitting several random spots throughout the room and setting the contents alight.

Arlong looked around with wide eyes as his maps combusted into flames, "What the hell do you think you are doing?" He moved to stop him, "Stop now!" Only to find a fist depositing itself into his belly, "No..." He choked out weakly as the flames spread across the room, "My maps..."

Naruto had a growl to his voice as he spoke, "You made her write maps for eight years?" Among the flames of the burning flames, a bubbling sound could be heard as red chakra started forming around Naruto's body, "You killed her mother right in front of her and took her away from her sister and villagers for some maps?"

Arlong desperately moved to sink his teeth into Naruto and kill him, but only found himself recoiling in pain his teeth were eroded along with the skin around his mouth. He stumbled back holding onto his mouth as he looked at Naruto, he watched as a red cloak of energy took the form of a fox around his body, a long tail swishing back and forth lazily in the background.

"I am Arlong! I am the strongest pirate in East Blue! There's no way a human like you can defeat me! I won't accept it!"

The tail shot out from behind Naruto and coiled itself around Arlong, causing the fishman to howl in pain as the energy that compromised the tail burned into him. Naruto held out a hand as he formed a Rasengan that was vermillion in colour, "You don't have to. It's happening whether you accept it or not."

With his piece said and done, with a mental command, his chakra tail reeled in the fishman and Naruto thrust out his hand that held the oddly coloured Rasengan straight into the ground, "Shui Rasengan (Vermillion Spiraling Sphere)!"

Naruto's Rasengan drilled Arlong through every floor of the tower until he reached the ground floor. It was then he realized something, the tower was unstable enough with the damage done to it, and Naruto had gone on to unstable it even more.

He looked around and noticed the various cracks that were forming around on the walls and the plaster falling from the ceiling. Yeah...it was probably the best of times to make his exit.

XxX

Everyone watched the battle between Naruto and Arlong, even when they disappeared into the top floor of the tower, the villagers still watched. Nami had gasped when one of the rooms on the top floor suddenly caught ablaze and tears came to her eyes as she realized what room it was, 'Thank you...'

With a loud and violent crash, the top floor of the building started coming down on the rest of the building, toppling over itself. Smoke and debris blew from the crash site, creating a smoke screen to the villagers.

"Boss!" Konohamaru yelled out as he ran towards the rubble, immediately followed by the villagers and the Straw-hats.

Genzo was one of the first villagers to arrive at the scene of the destroyed building and looked around, "There's no way a human could have survived that..." He said solemnly.

"You haven't even looked." Heads snapped in the direction Naruto's voice rang from to reveal the blonde haired ninja appeared from the side, dusting his clothes of dust and small debris, "Don't just write people of as dead like that. That's immature."

"You won!" Naruto turned his attention to the Straw-hat wearing boy with the stupid looking grin on his face. Luffy if he remembered correctly, "You completely destroyed that stupid fish! Join my crew!" He turned towards Konohamaru, "You too!"

Both ninjas waved him off, "Not pirates." They said in unison. Naruto blinked when he noticed the villagers look through the rubble, "Ah yeah, I hope some of you have a strong stomach. Arlong isn't going to be pretty to look at."

"He wasn't pretty to begin with."

Naruto turned his head to look at the person who spoke to see a girl with short orange hair and big, brown eyes. He raised an eyebrow, "Eh, Nami right? I think we met, for like a few seconds...or was it we didn't meet and I only saw you? Hm, well, it doesn't matter but I heard quite a lot from your sister." Nami continued to look at him with those brown eyes of hers that were tearing up, making the blonde somewhat uncomfortable, "You are not going to cry are you?"

Nami shook her head before she stepped forward and threw a massive hug around him before planting her lips on Naruto's much to the shocked gasps of the villagers who looked at the scene.

Naruto's brain started processing again when Nami's soft lips removed themselves from his, "...Eh what?"

At the side, Sanji was fuming as he cast death glares at Naruto for 'stealing Nami-chan'. Konohamaru just had a bland look on his face as he looked at the scene, "Where's _my_ kiss? I did 99% of the work goddamit!"

Silk laughed beside him, "Don't you know Konohamaru? Guys like you never get the girl."

"Guys like me?" The young ninja repeated in a splutter. He snapped his head to face the female swordswoman, "What do you means guys like me!?" Silk just had a knowing smile on her lips as she walked away.

Naruto's brain returned to full functionality shortly afterwards, but his face still held a dumbstruck look. Nami wiped a tear away from the corner of her eyes and gave him a large grateful smile, "Thank you." She said, softly, "Really, thank you."

That declaration caused the other villagers to give their thanks to the two ninjas, Konohamaru finally being able to enjoy the spotlight he had been solely missing. Naruto felt a nudge of the elbow and looked to the side, "Nojiko?" He said with a raised eyebrow, "What is it?"

Nojiko had something of a sly smile on her face, "Don't get any ideas about my sister buddy. I'm still liable to shoot you."

Naruto just looked at her as the villagers continued celebrating in the background, "...What?" Not really understanding what was going on, Naruto made his way towards the rubble of the main tower of Arlong Park and begin to move some of the rubble away.

Nojiko noticed what he was doing as she moved towards him, "What are you looking for exactly? Treasure?"

"Nah, not that." Naruto pushed up one large piece of rubble before hefting it away with a small grunt. He dusted his hands as he looked down at something, "I'm looking for _that._"

The blue-haired older sister of Nami moved beside him and held a hand to her mouth as she gasped at what she saw she was looking down at, "A-Arlong?" Her face turned various shades of green at the sight. Naruto had been right in someone needing a strong stomach. He wasn't at all pretty to look at. The fishman was all bloody and had a deep spiral grove in his chest and whilst he had lost his right forearm before, he had _no _right arm any more. Just a shoulder and a bloody stump.

Her gasp attracted the other villagers who moved to where they were standing to look down at the defeated body of their tyrant. Not surprisingly, not many of the rulers were sad to see him in such a state. Although Nami noticed something about him as she stood over his body looking down at him, her eyes all kinds of malice, "He's still _alive_?"

That got the other villagers thinking as they looked down at the body and were quick to come to the same conclusion as Nami when they saw the slight movements of Arlong's chest. He was still breathing and now that they listened intently, there was a slight wheezing sound as well coming from him as he breathed.

Nami turned to look at Naruto, her eyes narrowed, "I thought you killed him."

The blonde haired, blue eyed ninja took a seat on a large piece of rubble, "I could have, but I didn't need to. I know he's an utter bastard and doesn't deserve the mercy that I gave him, but I'm not the one he's wronged. What happens to him is up to you. I just kicked his ass for you." He scratched his mane of spiky hair as he looked up to the blue sky as the light of the sun shone down on the group, "I know many of you want to have revenge for every single wrong he's done to every one of you, but revenge isn't that simple. After you take it, what then? But what does what anything I say matter? I'm just an outsider in all of this. What happens to him, is up to you."

The Cocoyashi villagers were quick to yammer for Arlong's death. Many of them brought up the destruction of Gosa village and the deaths of it's inhabitants and also for the same justice for the tyranny and injustice he had placed the Conomi Islands underneath. Naruto just watched all of this impassively. Like he had said, he was an outsider to the entire suffering of the villagers and the islanders in general.

He couldn't just come in and say that it was wrong of them to outright kill Arlong after everything he had done. Naruto was of the mind that revenge did nothing to ease the suffering of a person or righted any wrongs. But he also knew that the world was filled with people that had a different sort of mind set to him. So all he could do was just sit there and see what they would do.

He was rather surprised when Nami stepped forth, somehow having found a sword from somewhere. She looked down at Arlong with a blank gaze, "I don't know whether you can hear me or not, but I just want to tell you that ever since you killed Belle-mere-san, I've always hated you." The others were in silence as she talked, "Sometimes, I had dreams of you dying by my own hands. I should kill you to be honest. Anyone here should for everything you've done to us, but that would do nothing. It won't bring Bell-mere-san back, nor will it bring back Gosa and it's villagers," She lifted her sword and stabbed it down at Arlong. The sword stabbed into the ground beside Arlong's head, "But I'm not. You always went on and on and on about how fishmen were superior to humans," She smirked down at him, tears brimming in her eyes, "Well, I guess an even worse punishment than death for you is living with the knowledge that you and your crew had been defeated by mere _puny_ humans. In fact, you nearly got killed by one of those. That must be galling for you isn't it?"

Nojiko smiled as she moved to her sister's side, "Someone's all grown up." She said softly. For someone like Arlong, she couldn't think of a worser fate than with the knowledge that someone from a race he absolutely looked down and despised on had defeated him so handily and without any seeming trouble. Thinking of the man who defeated their tyrant so easily after years of oppression, she mouthed a quiet 'Thank you' again in Naruto's direction. The ninja could only smile widely in return.

"I'll kill you..." Nami and Nojiko and the others were startled at the declaration. They looked down and noticed Arlong's eyes firmly resting on Naruto with anger and hate as he glared at him, "Just you wait, I'll heal of these pathetic injuries and then I'll find you and I'll kill you slowly and painfully. When I'm done with you, I'll come back here and kill every single one of-." Arlong was stopped short as he found his mouth gagged by a piece of cloth Naruto had found lying around on the ground.

"Yeah, yeah. This isn't the first time I've had the whole 'I'll kill you and everything' revenge spill." Naruto said as he dismissed the threat. Far scarier and stronger people have threatened him in life, "You can wait in line, I'm sure there's many people that want to kill me." Naruto looked down at him, "So what happens now? Do we party?"

Naruto's entire nonchalance to everything that Arlong was saying caught the villagers by surprise before one of them suddenly broke out when a sudden realisation came to him, "Arlong Park has been destroyed!" One of the villagers shouted at the top of his lungs, getting a massive cheer from the other villagers as they danced, knowing the symbol of their oppression was nothing more than rubble in the ground.

"Stop right there!"

The celebration was cut short by the arrival of a man in a Marines uniform complete with men flanking him in seamen garbs, "Well, ain't today my lucky day? I saw an interesting fight from start to finish. No-one will ever believe that two unknowns managed to defeat the Arlong Pirates between them, or the necessary strength to tear this place down. Because of you two boys, every single beli of Arlong's 16 million bounty will be mine! Drop your weapons, I, Commander Nezumi of Unit 16 will be happy to accept all of the treasure!"

Naruto noticed Nojiko tense up as she looked at the rat faced men, "You know this bastard?" He asked as he looked down at the bluenette.

She nodded her head, a scowl on her face, "He's the bastard that shot me."

"Oh." Well, that made things easy then. Naruto stepped forward, "Just a question, actually a couple of questions, two at most." The man gave him a look then followed by a nod, "Did you shoot Nojiko here?" He asked as he pointed towards Nami's older sister and he nodded, a smug look on his face. Naruto then turned his attention to the men flanking him, "And all of you were aware of what was going on around here?"

The Marines were confused at the line of questioning but they nodded their heads nonetheless. What was the point with these questions?

Naruto nodded his head in acceptance, "Oh goody, this makes things far easier." He turned to look at Konohamaru, "Give me some space buddy, I want to introduce our friends here to a little _furry _friend of mine." A growl emanated from the depths of Naruto's mind but he ignored it.

Konohamaru was quick to catch on as he gingerly shepherded the people back to make some space. Nezumi and the Marines looked on at the scene in confusion, "What the hell are you doing?" He asked.

"Oh you'll see." Naruto said as he looked around and noticed that there was enough space for what he wanted to do. From Naruto's body, red chakra started emanating as it spread out behind him to coalesce as it started to take on a gigantic form of what looked like to be a Nine-tailed fox.

Nezumi and the Marines took a step back in fear, "S-Stop what you're doing damn you!"

"Sure." Naruto said with a grin and he did stop, but the form had already formed and the energy seemingly burst like bubbles to reveal a giant fox that easily towered over the formerly standing Arlong Tower standing behind Naruto.

The fox looked took a few looks around, sniffing the air before grimacing, "**Smells like too much salt."** The fox said in a deep, bass of a voice that made it difficult to tell its sex, "**This is why I hate the coast, unless I'm creating a tsunami or the likes."**

Nezumi was on his backside from the shock, various drops of sweat on his face, "W-What is that?"

Naruto had a feral grin that showed off his canines on his face, "Where I come from, this is a natural disaster called the Kyuubi no Youko, but you can just call him Kurama." He glanced up at his life-long companion, "Kurama, say hi."

Kurama lowered his head so that his snout was just inches away from the stunned Nezumi and Marines. The fox parted his lips to reveal the giant razor sharp teeth of his in a sinister grin, "**Hi**." Nezumi screamed before he was taken whole into the fox's mouth. Kurama seemed to draw out the chewing before doing an exaggerated gulp, "**Bah, skinny little rat. I need more than this.**" He said, deliberately eyeing the rest of the Marines.

The Marines were quick to turn on their heels and run back for the ship.

Naruto turned to look up at Kurama who was doing his best of frightening the life out of the villagers, "...You ate him."

Kurama stopped preening like a peacock for a moment to glance down at Naruto, "**Wasn't that the plan?"**

"No." Naruto deadpanned, "You were supposed to scare him shitless!"

The fox stuck out its tongue, a disgusted look on its face, "**I think I did do that. Got a nasty taste in my mouth."** Once again, saying it whilst deliberately looking at the villagers, some who were close to just close to calling it quits and accepting death right then and there.

Naruto kicked him on the nearest paw, "Stop trying to scare the villagers you old fox." He said. He then turned towards the distance where he saw a ship, a ship with white sails with the words 'Marine' written in blue and a seagull turning to its side, "...Oh great, they are planning on firing their broadsides at us."

Kurama turned his attention away from scaring the villagers so that they can spread tales of his awesome splendour to look into the distance, "**Stupid of them**." He said and with a single swipe of his tail, a giant wave of water that completed covered the view of the ship in the distance rose up and travelled in the direction of the ship, "**There, that should be the end of them.**"

Naruto palmed his face, "I was going to just disable the ship..." He shrugged, it was out of his control now anyway. They should have just turned and ran instead of trying to kill them.

"Eh Naruto."

The ninja turned his attention towards the person who called him out to see a Nojiko giving him a slightly strained smile, "Yes?"

She pointed at Kurama, "...He's not going to eat us is he?"

Naruto shook his head, "Nah, he's not going to eat you. Here."

The villagers watched with amazement as Kurama began to shrink in size to that of an average sized fox. The fox looked around before looking at Naruto and giving him the finger before trotting off.

Sanji just watched the fox disappear into the treeline before releasing a breath he didn't know he had been holding, "Well, that was certainly interesting." He looked at Naruto, "If we ever get into a fight, don't bring out the scary, stupidly, strong, giant monster fox. I would like to fight knowing that I at least had a chance at victory."

Naruto shrugged, "Can't promise a thing."

Silk walked up to him, her eyes darting towards the treeline, "...You are not going to explain what that was anytime soon are you?"

The blonde jounin smiled at her as he put an arm around her shoulder, "Why Silk-chan, you're starting to get me!"

She sighed, "I thought as much."

XxX

(Couple of Days Later)

"**The world huh?**" Kurama yawned out as he sat perched onto a large piece of debris, his several of his tails lazily swishing behind him and the rest being used as a pillow, "**If you are lucky, you might learn the answers to a lot of questions that went unanswered."**

Naruto grimaced as he sat on the ground, leaning against said piece of debris that Kurama was lying on, "But do I really want to know?"

That was a stupid question, and Kurama made sure he knew it, "**Don't be an idiot. Ignorance is bliss, but at the same time, ignorance is hell. It's better to know, than not to know."**

The ninja scrunched up his face in thought, "Ah, Sasuke is the one that wants to learn the answers to the unanswered questions that remain, not me!"

Kurama used a tail to swipe at Naruto's head, "**Ever heard of the saying two heads are better than one? Your Uchiha friend might find answers to some things, but you might find answers to other things."**

"He didn't even take me up on the offer." Naruto told the fox, "You know this." He had spent a month tracking down his old teammate, only to find him in Uzu no Kuni of all places and had offered him the chance to come with him and Konohamaru to travel the world.

Only Sakura had shot him down faster.

Kurama let a snort escape him, "**I know you aren't as stupid to believe that the Uchiha would just leave a chance like this begging. Mark my words, the Uchiha followed you across the sea. I'm sure of it."**

Naruto had something of an even smile on his face, "He has a name you know?" He pointed out, crossing his arms behind his head to make a make-shift pillow, "Don't tell me you are still angry about the whole Chibaku Tensei thing?"

The grumble from Kurama was all the answer he needed and he couldn't help but laugh. One of the few things that Kurama could do well, was to hold a grudge. Even though he had taken his pound of flesh from Madara, he still cursed the Uchiha's name to hell and back, only now, Sasuke was added to that list for his stunt during the aftermath of the war.

But he had to admit, his furry buddy had a point. Sasuke had definitely followed him across the sea from the Elemental Continent. Either he didn't want to travel with Naruto for his own personal reasons or he had tasks to complete before leaving the continent for an indefinite amount of time, Sasuke had rebuffed him on his initial offer, but he had shown interest in travelling the world and learning the answers to the questions that Kaguya and the Shinju brought.

The sound of footfalls attracted his attention and he peeked open an eye to see Nojiko making her way towards him. He closed his eyes and felt her stop in front of her, he could tell that she was still a little bit worry in front of Kurama after his little stunt with the tsunami and the eating of that rat bastard Nezumi, but she seemed to be getting used to his presence.

"Strange place to sleep." She finally said.

"I have been repeatedly told that I'm a strange person by many people."

A knowing smile came across Nojiko's lips, "You were looking for any additional treasure weren't you?"

Naruto opened his eyes to peak into Nojiko's dark orbs, "That easy huh?"

She dropped down into a crouch, bringing her knees close to her body to get an even eye level with Naruto, "You know the others are still celebrating?"

Naruto nodded, "Oh yeah, I know." It had been nothing more than constant partying day after day after day. Konohamaru was already suffering from the mother of all hangovers on their ship after he had drank enough alcohol that he had become paraplegic.

He made a mental note to thank Kurama for his healing abilities so that alcohol didn't do such a thing to him.

"And my sister and the Straw-hats are leaving tomorrow at dawn." Nojiko continued.

Naruto snorted, "I would love to see them wake up at dawn with the amount they are drinking."

"When are you leaving?" She asked.

Naruto shrugged, "Probably tomorrow, after the Straw-Hats. If we left at the same time, we would just end up going in the same direction. Those guys are pretty cool."

Over the past couple of days after the whole Arlong Park incident, Naruto and company had gone on to become quiet good friends with the Straw-Hat Pirates. Their captain Luffy was a piece of work. He sort of reminded Naruto of himself when he was twelve...but dumber...way dumber. In fact, twelve year old Naruto beside Luffy could have been considered rather smart. But Naruto liked the guy, he was simple and easy to read. There was nothing unpredictable about him like himself and you simply got what you get with him. He was straight-forward, simplistic, had the same odd charisma that Naruto had and he was also a rubber-man.

That had been the kicker for him to become friends with the boy. He was a _rubber_ man. Naruto couldn't stress that enough. It was absurdly amusing stretching his body parts.

Zoro was lazy, so lazy that he wondered if he could have given Shikamaru a run for his money in that department, but it didn't seem like it. When he wasn't sleeping, he was training, Shikamaru never trained unless he had to, and sometimes, Zoro could be found doing both. He had yet to learn how the man was able to do that. He was a good guy and a loyal one too, as prior to swearing allegiance to Luffy of all people, he hunted pirates.

He also liked his drink, to the point he would end up in debt to Nami.

Sanji was a pervert. That was all there was to that.

At first glance, Naruto's fellow blonde came off as calm, cool and collected, but at the first sight of skirts or breasts, he would immediately try to charm the woman, forgetting whatever task he was doing before. He wasn't to the same level as Jiraiya on the pervert scale, but Naruto was confident a few more years and he would be there.

Although the man himself preferred to think of himself as a man who loves the ladies instead of a pervert.

Nami...Nojiko's adopted sister was greedy. He had to admit, it had been rather awkward after that kiss after the battle with Arlong. Well, Naruto had thought it awkward until he filed it into the 'heat of the moment' category and Nami didn't seem to be at all bothered by it afterwards, making jokes about it.

She also happened to be a very greedy girl. She had tried to win money off Naruto, but she was currently coming to the unknown conclusion that when it came to games of chance, Naruto was the luckiest son of a bitch around.

Usopp was cowardly, a liar among various other things, but beneath all that, he was an alright guy. If his attack on Arlong days prior showed anything, it was that when the time called for it, he would rise up having garnered some dutch courage from somewhere.

Nojiko had a forlorn smile on her face, "Yeah, they are, aren't they?"

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked with a quirk of the eyebrow as he looked at the old lady.

"Well..."

Both humans found their heads on the receiving ends of an individual swipe from Kurama's tail, "**For the love of all that-Since you clearly can't see it, she wants to come with us on that ship of ours."**

Naruto blinked and looked at Nojiko, "You want to come with us?" Nojiko had an embarrassed blush on her cheeks as she nodded her head, "You know we're going to the Grand Line right? That place isn't supposed to be a stroll in the park."

Nojiko got to her feet, a defiant look on her face, her arms crossed, "I know that. I have heard stories about the place like everybody else. And anyway, you guys need a navigator. You don't even have one and you plan on going on travelling on the most dangerous sea route in the world. How stupid can you be?"

"**You have yet to fully comprehend the stupidity of the man that sits in front of you.**"

"Don't make me make you smaller!" Naruto hissed at the ancient fox. He turned to look at Nojiko, "I can navigate."

Nojiko gave him a dry, disbelieving look. Kurama chuckled, "**You can barely read a land map, I don't even want to think about a nautical map."**

Naruto had a blank look on his face before bringing his hands together in a ram seal and Kurama's form disappeared from the piece of debris. He leaned back into the debris and released a sigh of bliss, "Ah, quiet. That's what I need."

That silence was quickly broken by the other person in the area, "I hope you're not planning to ignore me."

Naruto frowned as he tried to think of a reason to stop Nojiko coming with him. He already had one person on his ship that had some basics when it came to fighting, but the bluenette seemed to be a complete novice by the looks of it and would have to be trained from the ground up.

"You'll be leaving your village behind."

Nojiko smirked, "Nami's going, I can't just sit back and watch the clouds roll on by whilst she goes out and sees the world."

"It's dangerous."

"I'm a big girl." She said dismissively, "I know how to take care of myself."

Naruto frowned as he tried thinking of something. He then relented, "Fine, whatever. I seem to be picking up stray dogs a lot lately." He mumbled as he thought of Silk and how she ended up joining him.

He felt a chill run over him. He looked up and sall Nojiko smiling at him far too sweetly, "...Stray dogs? Whatever do you mean Naruto?" Nojiko asked, her voice sweet like honey but holding venom underneath.

Naruto sweated furiously, "Nothing, nothing at all." The feeling of impending death disappeared and he released a sigh of relief. He then looked at Nojiko curious about something, "If you want to travel, why don't you go with your sister? It would allow you to stick together." He pointed out.

Nojiko looked away, the night sky hiding her features and more importantly, the flush of colour on her cheeks, "Like I said, you guys need a navigator. I might not be as good as Nami, but I know my way around a map." She explained. She couldn't very well say that she was rather curious and interested in what made the man known as Uzumaki Naruto tick could she?

* * *

**AN: Chapter 3 out for all your enjoyment. East Blue Saga coming to a close soon enough and a special guest star next chapter to someone well all know and either love or hate who will introduce one of the overhanging plot themes of course.**

**Later,**

**Raidensokwl**


	4. Just The Beginning

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece_

* * *

Just The Beginning

"_Kyah!"_

A loud, feminine scream rang out which was then promptly followed by the sounds of something entering water with a big splash. Naruto cracked an eye open and turned to look at a giant toad dressed in samurai armour that had something of a sheepish look on its face, "...Threw her off the ship again didn't you?" The toad slowly nodded its head, "I thought as much."

Naruto sighed as he got up and made his way towards the stern of the ship. When he neared the back he took out a kunai and tied some ninja wire around the ring at the handle. Looking around, he noticed the floating form of Silk in the water and threw the kunai in her direction, the weapon landing in a splash just beside her.

The swordswoman-in-training grabbed the kunai and found herself reeled in by Naruto back onto the ship.

Silk had a frown on her face as she tried her best to wring the water out of her hair, "One of these days..." She muttered angrily as she glared at the toad that was just looking at her with a victorious look about it.

"Yeah, one of those days isn't going to be happening anytime soon." Silk's fellow blonde mused with a smirk on his face, "Gama is tough." The toad seemingly croaked in agreement with the statement, "You'll have to be pretty good to beat him, and when you do, I can stop worrying that you'll find yourself in a situation way over your head."

Silk cast a quick look at the blonde ninja, "When exactly am I going to fight against someone that has me by at least 300 pounds and several times my height?"

Naruto shrugged, "Apparently, the world is bigger than I thought it was. Who knows? There might be some stupidly powerful people around, and its my job to find them." He said as he made his way back down to the deck from the stern, not before making a quick check that the wheel was still locked and they were heading in the direction that the newest incumbent on the ship, the lovely Nojiko, had pointed him in. He waved at Gama as he neared the toad, "Thanks Gama, that's all for today."

The toad croaked once more, returning the wave and disappearing in a puff of smoke and heading back to Mt. Myoboku.

Although she had seen it quite a few times by now, she still found herself rather surprised and curious about how an abnormally large toad could just magically appear and disappear. She turned her attention towards Naruto who retook his seat against the mast, "Find them and fight them you mean?" She asked, still trying to dry her hair to the best possible condition.

"Haha," The blonde ninja laughed somewhat uneasily at the question before he spoke, "I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. If we have a problem, or just end up clashing due to the whims of fate, then it can't be helped now can it?"

"Aha." The swordswoman didn't believe that at all. She looked down at her clothes and frowned, "Does that frog-."

"-Toad-."

"-Toad," She corrected herself with a roll of the eyes, "Throw me into the ocean just for kicks or did I anger it in some way?"

"I think mistaking Gama for a giant frog might have peeved him off just ever so slightly."

"I didn't know he was a toad!" Silk defended herself in a vehement manner.

"Frogs and toads are two completely different things." Naruto replied coolly, "It's really easy telling the difference apart."

Silk pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest, "Well, I'm sorry I didn't know. It's not like I spent most of my childhood researching the differences between frogs and toads." She then found herself rubbing her head were Naruto had given her a 'soft' pat, "_Ow_! What was that for?"

"The snarkiness is not appreciated." The blonde ninja said, "I will not have any snark on my ship unless I am the one being snarky!"

Silk rolled her eyes before turning to go below deck and change into not wet clothes before she found herself catching a cold. On her way below, she passed Nojiko was coming from below deck. She smiled and waved at her fellow female, "Morning." She said in greeting.

Nojiko waved back, with a smile of her own, "Morning to you too Silk." She then noticed that her particular clothes were currently soaked to the bone. She stifled a laugh and raised an eyebrow, "Training with..." She pursed her lips as she took on a pensive look on her face, "What was his name again, Gama?" She asked unsurely, hoping the name was the correct one.

Silk allowed a weary sigh to escape her lips, "I'm sure we only know of one giant frog."

"_Toad, goddammit!_" Naruto yelled from further back in the ship, were he was currently sat relaxing, "_Don't make me re-summon him to kick your butt again!_" He half-threatened, if Naruto ever half-threatened anyone.

"_Sorry!" _Silk shouted an apology in his direction quickly before he made good on his threat. She had been knocked overboard enough times this morning and all she really wanted to do now, was change into some nice, dry clothes and go back to sleep. When she agreed to be trained by Naruto and Konohamaru, she didn't know waking up at first light was going to be one of the things she would be subject to in her so called 'apprenticeship' to the two ninjas.

Nojiko watched with a dry look of amusement on her face as Silk quickly scurried below deck. She then made her way towards the self-proclaimed ninja captain of the ship...which still lacked a name. That had to be addressed sooner or later.

She gave him a lazy wave of the hand in greeting, "Morning." She said, a half yawn seeping into her voice.

Naruto look at her, blue eye peeking from beneath an eyelid, "Morning Nojiko-chan. Just woke up I see."

"Not all of us are early birds like you and Konohamaru." She said, a small smile on her lips with her hands on her hips. She looked around and noticed that the other so called ninja wasn't on the deck like usual, "Where is he anyway?"

Naruto had an amused smirk on his lips as he talked about his fellow ninja, "He's still suffering from a hangover from all the drinking he did during that celebration back on Commi Island."

The bluenette blinked before grimacing when she thought back to how much the young ninja did drink. She shook her head, "I'm surprised he's still alive or that, how he still has a liver that's working in perfect condition is a mystery." She had seen him drink several of the older villagers to the ground before going to look for more...for three whole days, and he never showed any signs of a hang-over the very next day.

Naruto had something of an annoyed twitch of the eyebrow which he managed to hide aptly enough from the newest addition of a crew member to his ship. Konohamaru was rather lucky that Naruto was willing to heal him through the use of the Yin-Yang Release, if he hadn't, he would have found himself needing a new liver.

"Yeah...a mystery." The blonde said slowly before setting his eyes on Nojiko, "Since you are the navigator, where are we going? Because I'm going to come out and say it, I have no idea where we are going and this is all on you."

"I thought as much." Nojiko said with a roll of the eyes. She managed to pull out a map from somewhere and rolled out flat in front of Naruto, "If you didn't touch anything and followed my instructions, we should be heading towards Loguetown." She finished as she placed a delicate finger nail on an island, directly above a point that was labeled _Loguetown_.

Naruto nodded his head as he looked down at the map, noticing that the town was located on a group of islands called the Polestar islands. He placed a hand on his chin, "Alright, so we're heading towards Loguetown. That's fine with me." Nojiko looked at him with abated eyes before Naruto's blue eyes slowly lifted from the map towards Nojiko's own brown eyes, "...Why are we going to Loguetown?"

"You really don't know anything do you?" She asked, her expression dry.

"I know a lot of things." Naruto replied, his voice holding some tones of indignation at what she was trying to imply with her words, "I'm just new to this part of the world, so excuse me if I don't know every single thing that goes on around here." He finished with a childish pout as he crossed his arms and looked away, his eyes squinted shut.

'His eyes closed like that and with the whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks, he looks a lot like a fox.' She mused to herself as she allowed a light laugh to escape her lips at the rather childish reaction she received from the ninja. After getting her fair share of laughs, she patted his head as she had a sly smile on her face, "Well, it's a good thing that you and Konohamaru have me and Silk around to tell you about the world now isn't it?"

Naruto faced Nojiko and shrugged, "I guess."

"Guess?" She repeated with a quirk of the eyebrow, "There's nothing to guess about this. You two would probably have died on the seas if you continued the way you guys were going." It was a good thing for them that Silk happened to have been a rather skilled cook either wise the two ninjas would have suffered from scurvy with their unhealthy eating habits.

Naruto shook his head to remove the hand, "Yeah, yeah, whatever." Nojiko laughed again, "So why are we going to this Loguetown? Pretty sure we should be heading towards the Grand Line." He said, although he tried to hide it, Nojiko could see that he was rather excited about going to such a dangerous place.

She didn't really know what her thoughts would be on such a matter, so she just decided to push them into the back of her mind and allow them to be forgotten until she came into a situation where sooner or later, they are going to come back to the forefront of her mind due to the prompting of a dangerous, life-threatening or life-ending situation arised.

"Since you seem rather set on heading on to the Grand Line," Nojiko began, "Loguetown is the best place to stop. Due to it's proximity to Reverse Mountain, almost everyone stops there to stock up for the Grand Line itself."

"Huh, cool." Naruto said as he scratched his chin, "Do we need to stock up on anything though? I think we're pretty sorted." The ship that Galley had so kindly donated to him, Konohamaru and Silk had been stocked with food supplies and weapons. The supplies themselves had been hardly touched by the crew on the ship. Galley had stocked for a large crew, but at the moment, there were only four mouths to feed and that didn't put much of a strain on their food supplies. Weapons...well, Naruto and Konohamaru didn't even use cannons or guns, that was enough said.

Nojiko frowned as she thought about it. She had gone around the ship to have a look around when they had first set off from Commi Island and had seen that they were indeed supplied to the full and thus were not in need of anymore supplies.

But still..., "It's better if we go and make sure that we have everything we need. I have heard stories about the Grand Line, it's not a place where we can just take it easy." She said, a stern expression on her face and her hands on her hips.

Naruto gave her a mock salute, "Aye, aye captain. Loguetown it is."

Nojiko hit him lightly on the arm, "Don't mock me."

"Well, now that we have all that sorted, there's still another subject that has to be sorted."

Nojiko cocked her head to the side and blinked innocently, "There is?" Did she miss something? She was sure she hadn't. Speaking of which, why was she the one thinking about the things they needed? Naruto was the captain here, not her.

Naruto nodded his head, his hair swaying with each nod of the head, "Yes, you." He finished with a finger pointed in her direction.

The blue-haired navigator had something of an apprehensive look on her face as she took a wary step back, "Me?"

He gave her a grin, a large, disarming grin, but that didn't at all help stop the feeling of trepidation she was feeling, "Yes, you. People keep saying it and I can't be irresponsible and just ignore it, especially now that you and Silk are aboard this little journey of mine and Konohamaru's."

Nojiko didn't need much prompting to figure out where he was going with this, "...You're going to train me aren't you?"

"You are so smart Nojiko-chan."

"Flattering me isn't going to make me want to train with you." She had seen how Konohamaru and Naruto 'trained' Silk. It was merely them knocking her around the ship, or trying to throw her overboard, and she wasn't even going to bring in the giant toad into the equation, "You are a torturer."

"All I do," Naruto began, "I do because I care." He chuckled at the expression on Nojiko's face, "But don't worry about it. I haven't thought about what exactly I'm going to train you in, so you're safe. For now at least."

Nojiko allowed a sigh of relief to escape her lips. She then blinked when she felt a tap in the middle of her forehead. She looked at Naruto, "What was that for?" She asked, asking Naruto with a wary look at the look on his face.

Naruto crossed his hands behind his head and made for below deck, "You'll see soon enough." He said somewhat in sing-song as he plodded along.

Nojiko watched him disappear before shrugging and went to go and check the stern. She blinked when she noticed that she felt as if she was walking against a strong wind, "That can't be right." She said to herself. She had taken several steps and now found herself panting lively, "Oh no..."

Silk had told her about this. A resistance seal or something like that. Silk had one herself, but she had 'levelled up' as her two torturers called it, which meant that she had moved onto the next level. She had seen the younger girl struggle to walk or do daily tasks because of the seal and now she had one herself on her persons.

Perhaps deciding to come with Naruto and company hadn't been the best of ideas. That was the thought that rang through her mind as she slumped to her knees and allowed tears to flow freely from her eyes.

How she missed her tangerine groves.

XxX

(Loguetown)

"Dry land." Naruto said as he did some stretches, "Finally." He turned around and waved at his three other companions who were making their own ways of the ship, albeit less enthusiastically like Naruto, which was far more noticeable with two of them as they looked fatigued more than anything else, "You know you guys can stay on the ship if you feel out of it right?" He said, directing his questions at the previously mentioned two.

Nojiko let a sigh escape her lips as she rolled her shoulders around, trying to get some life back into them, having her body subjected to those strange seals of Naruto's did a number on her joints, "And let you run around without supervision? Yeah, no thanks."

Naruto gave her a dry look, "Why do you keep treating me like I'm some sort of man-child."

Konohamaru sniggered as he walked past him, hands behind his head, "You are something of a man-child boss." He found himself at the end of head-lock and severe nuggy to the head from said boss, "Argh, let go!" He shouted as he tried to wrestle himself out of the grip.

Silk and Nojiko watched the two wrestle on the pier in front of passing sailors and other groups of people with a sweat drop on both their heads. The older of the two females could only shake her head at the sight, "...And he said he was trying to prove that he wasn't a man child?" She muttered with a palm to the face.

Silk made her way towards the two and separated them, "Alright, that's enough. You two can't help but embarrass yourselves can you?"

Konohamaru crossed his arms and looked away with a pout, "He started it."

"And I'll be more than willing to finish it." Naruto replied with an even tone to it, "Now let go Silk-chan, me and Konohamaru have some business to settle."

Nojiko came from behind Naruto and bonked him on the head, "You can finish whatever business you have later."

Naruto gave her a squinted eye look, "It's as if two forget that I'm the person on the ship that can decide whether to make your lives as heavenly or hellishly as possible." The two women stopped cold at that as they slowly turned their heads in his direction. The looks they gave him got a victorious look from Naruto, "That's right, from this day on, I expect to be treated like a king, the kingliest of all king."

"Ah boss," Konohamaru cut in, "Kingliest isn't a word."

Naruto _tsked_, "I know it's not a word Konohamaru, it's an expression."

Nojiko was quick to cut to the topic of what they were here for and hopefully, direct the subject away from Naruto making hers and Silk's training less hellish than it already was, "Okay, we can have this question _not _ later, right now, we're here to buy stuff."

The Sarutobi of the quartet gave her a look, "What exactly are we here to buy Nojiko-nee? We're pretty stocked."

His fellow ninja motioned a hand as if to further stress a point, "I _know_," He stressed, "That's what I said, but she said we still need to do it."

"Pointless waste of money to be honest." Silk conceded, herself not seeing why they had stopped in Loguetown, "We could have just carried on to Reverse Mountain is it? And just gone to the Grand Line."

Nojiko found herself feeling somewhat abashed from the looks she was receiving from her fellow travelers. She looked away with a flush of her cheeks, "Well excuse me for trying to make sure that we're ready for anything that happens."

"Well, I guess she can't be faulted for that." Naruto removed himself from Silk's clutches easily enough. He put his hands behind his head and tilted his head to the sky in thought, "Well, since we're here, I guess we might as well take a look around. Maybe we'll even find something for Nojiko here to use when it comes to fighting to make sure that she doesn't find herself from going pretty living lady to pretty dead lady."

Konohamaru sniggered at how Naruto said it before a pointed look from Nojiko immediately caused him to find himself nervous. Thinking it over, he decided his best course of action was to leave the current vicinity, "Well, I'll leave you guys too it." He said as he began to jog off in a direction, "I'm going to go see the sights...this place is supposed to be famous isn't it?" With that last comment, the grandson of the Sandaime disappeared into the crowds.

Silk was soon to join Konohamaru's example in going to see the sights of Loguetown. She was rather curious about seeing the execution platform where Gol D. Roger was executed, "I'll see you guys later." She said with a wave as she left the pier where they had docked.

Naruto scratched his spiky mane of bright, blonde hair with something of a frown on his face, "We didn't even set up a time when to meet back here."

Nojiko grabbed him by the arm and began to pull him towards the direction of the city, "They are both grown-ups. They'll be able to take care of themselves."

"Unlike you of course." Naruto quipped, referencing the fact that out of the four of them, Nojiko was ranked as the weakest of the group.

"Shut up." The bluenette playfully whined as she lightly introduced her fist to his shoulder. She was rather sure that if she had hit him any harder, she would have been the one hurting. Naruto seemed rather robust.

Naruto found himself rather wow'ed by the sight. He had seen the island from a distance as they approached it and from what he had seen, Loguetown seemed to encompass the whole island that it sat in. He had even wondered why the place had 'town' in its name when it was nowhere near a town, it was clearly a city.

He tried to think of a place back home that could meet the size of Loguetown but his mind always came back blank. He was rather amazed but also at the same time worried, '_If this place is any indication, this World Government has us beat at population density_.' That shouldn't have come as a surprise due to the fact he was already aware that the world, well most of it, was ruled by a singular entity, he still couldn't be surprised. He had yet to write a full report of what he had seen this neck of the woods, but he was sure that when they had set sail for Reverse Mountain, as it was called, he should have a written report ready to be delivered by a messenger toad, '_I wonder how Kakashi-sensei would take to this place? Might as well take some pictures, for evidence and all that shizzaz.'_

Nojiko had something of an amused expression at the look of awe and wonder on her blonde companion's face, "If you are surprised about this, I don't think you would be able to take it when we see the rest of the world."

"You make it sound as if I'm some old man." Naruto said with a dry look on his face. He shook his head to get rid of the feelings of awe and wonder that were swimming around his head, "And anyway, I'm just surprised by the size of this place, I don't think there's anywhere in the Elemental Nations that is as large as this place."

Nojiko found herself curious. It wasn't everyday one could hear about the fabled Final Continent, most tales and stories about the place being held with several pinches of salt and skepticism, '_Guess the only way to learn more of the place is from someone who has actually lived there.'_ She thought to herself, "So what it's like? The Final Continent I mean." She added hurriedly when she saw the look on Naruto's face when he turned to look at her.

Naruto squinted his eyes shut and scratched his cheek in thought, "Well...it's certainly different. I can't really describe it, you have to see it for yourself to be able to know what I'm talking about." He cast a smile in her direction, "I'll have to take you there sometime if you are so curious about it."

Nojiko giggled, "My sister will probably get jealous."

"How come?" Naruto asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Her goal in life is to map the world. I think she would be rather jealous that I went to a place only spoken off in stories and the likes."

Naruto shrugged, "Well, I guess I'll bring her along too if she wants."

The blue haired woman couldn't help but laugh, "She would probably kiss you again if you do." At the sight of some color running towards Naruto's cheeks, she couldn't help but laugh some more. She pinched a cheek, "What's with that look? Most boys would be jumping up and down from being kissed by a girl like Nami." A conspiratory look came about her, "Don't tell me that was your first kiss?"

Naruto snorted as he swatted away Nojiko's hand, "First kiss? Please, I'm 19 years old, a damn grown man. It would be embarrassing if I hadn't kissed a girl yet by this age." Especially considering who his godfather was.

"Hm," Nojiko hummed as she continued to eye Naruto, "Alright then, what about your virginity?"

Naruto stopped and gaped at her. He closed his mouth and raised a finger to speak, but the words couldn't, wouldn't come out so he just decided to stay num on the subject, "I'm not answering that."

"Spoken like a true virgin." The bluenette said with a giggle as she continued making her way down the street they were walking down.

Naruto watched her walk away, "I should have left her back at Commi Island." He said to no-one in particular.

'**But think about this, if you had,'** Kurama chimed in from within Naruto's mind, '**You wouldn't have this particular view now would you?'**

Naruto stayed quiet before raising his eyes from their original position of Nojiko that was below the waist level. He then began walking to catch up with the girl, '_I have no idea what you are talking about_.' On a side note, he had to admit, Nojiko just had as much as a lovely behind like her sister.

**'Of course you don't. You are about just as bad as Jiraiya.**'

'_Take that back.'_ He was _nowhere_ near as bad as Jiraiya. So he had now come to appreciate the female form, but that didn't mean that he went out of his way to take a glimpse like his old mentor did.

'**No.'**

He had been half-expecting that answer the moment he had demanded the old fox to take back his words. So instead of continuing the verbal back and forth tirade, Naruto just increased his pace to catch up with Nojiko and interact with someone that was of one particular sex instead of being sexually ambiguous.

Kurama growled from within his mind, '**I **_**will**_** eat you.'**

That brought a smile to Naruto's lips, although the prospect of being eaten should never actually bring a smile to anyone's lips at all.

XxX

(With Silk)

Silk was doing much the same as the rest of her companions. She had run off in the same direction as Konohamaru had gone in, in hopes to catch up with the youngest of the two ninjas aboard their nameless ship, but she had forgotten that Konohamaru was far, far faster than her.

So she had decided to just walk around and see what Loguetown had to offer. She had passed a couple of sword shops that looked interesting and had also interesting wares, but had bought nothing, largely due to the fact that she had no money on her persons and that she was still holding out on asking Naruto if he would give that lightning blade of his to her.

Of course such an event would happen if she actually went round to asking him for the sword, but she had yet to do that. Her reason being that she didn't know how to broach the subject with the blonde.

Konohamaru's words to her about the sword being a heirloom to someone of importance to Naruto stopped her from asking him outright and somewhat from asking him at all. She didn't want to take something that someone had entrusted to him.

For all she knew, the sword might as well have been a family heirl-.

Silk abruptly stopped, along with her thoughts. Her coming to a halt in the middle of a busy street caused several people to nearly walk into each other and cause a veritable pile-up. She quickly apologized with a quick 'Sorry!' that was further accentuated with a bow from the waist.

She then retraced her steps towards a notice board and she had to rub her eyes several times to make sure what she was seeing was actually correct. Apparently, what she was seeing was actually correct.

The notice board held several notices that came from the authorities, but the ones that stuck out the most to the young, blonde swordswoman-in-training were the three wanted posters. Wanted posters for her friends.

**Wanted**

**'Strawhat' Monkey D. Luffy**

**20,000,000 beli**

**Dead or Alive**

The poster was accompanied with a picture of a grinning Luffy, and the back of Usopp's head in the background.

"Oh wow," Silk breathed as she couldn't believe what she was seeing, "20,000,000? That's a lot." And didn't Luffy just start this whole pirate business just several weeks prior on his 17th birthday? That's what she had learned from the time she had talked with him back at Commi Island.

Her light brown colored eyes then drifted to the next wanted poster.

**Wanted**

**'Devil Monkey' Sarutobi Konohamaru**

**17,000,000 beli**

**Dead or Alive**

And accompanying that poster was that of her fellow fifteen year old Konohamaru during the time when the villagers of Cocoyashi Village were celebrating the destruction of Arlong Park before Nezumi had arrived. From the looks of his somewhat disgruntled and grumpy appearance, she guessed it was during the time when Nami had gone and gave Naruto a big kiss on the lips and was complaining where his kiss was.

'_Devil Monkey?'_ Silk thought. She didn't know whether to laugh or cringe, '_Is that a play on his name? And how did they even find out his name anyway?'_

Her eyes then drifted to the side once more to the final poster.

**Wanted**

**'The Calamity' Uzumaki Naruto**

**45,000,000 beli**

**Dead or Alive**

Whoever had managed to take the picture had been able to squeeze in her blonde friend along with that giant monster, talking, pet fox of his into it, well, a part of the fox's snout anyway. She didn't even have to try and recall when that picture had been taken as she was sure it was shortly after his fox, Kurama he called himself, ate Nezumi.

She cringed at the picture, '_Naruto isn't going to be pleased about this._' She thought as she decided that sight-seeing time was over. It was best for her to go back to the ship and wait for everybody else.

She had learned from the talk around town that Loguetown previously had a noticeable pirate populace, but that all changed when some kind of 'Monster' Marine was posted to the Marine base on the island. This 'Monster' Marine had started going around cleaning town and capturing any and all pirates that had a bounty on them it could find, or any pirate in general.

She had confidence in Konohamaru and Naruto when it came to handling themselves in a fight. She had seen Naruto easily take down Galley in the blink of an eye and then she had seen both destroy a feared pirate crew without seemingly breaking a sweat.

But she couldn't help but fear for them when it came to this 'Monster'.

But there was just one thing about this whole thing that was bugging her, '_Naruto and Konohamaru aren't pirates.'_

XxX

(With Naruto &amp; Nojiko)

Curious.

There were storm clouds in the sky that had been previously cloudless and blue. Well, if that didn't raise any questions, Naruto didn't know what would, so he just ignored it. It was probably nothing anyway, he didn't feel anything that seemed off apart from a few gathering clouds in the sky.

Speaking of feeling anything...

"What's wrong Naruto?" Nojiko asked when she saw the some half-annoyed, half-happy look on Naruto's face, "You're making a strange face. You are going to scare people with that."

Naruto glanced in the blue-haired female's direction, "I don't think anyone can make such an expression Nojiko-chan."

"Well you are making it right now." She retorted with her hands on her hips, "Do you want me to take a picture and show it you? Better yet, what about a portrait painting?"

Naruto chuckled, "I think I would have fallen asleep by the time the portrait is finished." He then quickly put a hand around Nojiko's waist and drew her in close, getting a squeak of alarm from the older girl.

"W-What are you doing!?" She squeaked, her face a flush red at the sudden action.

Naruto didn't answer, "Hold on, this might leave you a little light-hearted."

The redness of her face just increased at the ambiguous answer, "What does!?" She asked, before seeing everything blur for a moment before she found herself atop the roof of a building.

Naruto released Nojiko from his grasps and put two steadying hands on her shoulders when she saw her eyes swimming, "Are you alright?" He asked.

Nojiko slumped to her knees, "What just happened?" She asked as the world around her spun.

"High speed movement." The blonde ninja replied easily enough, "It sort of leaves you disoriented for first timers or people who aren't used to moving at such speeds."

Nojiko brought a hand to her temple as the world was starting to align itself instead of spinning around like a spinning top, "Why did you do that?"

"To move from A to B at a fast speed."

"Why?"

"To meet someone."

Nojiko looked up to Naruto when she felt she had finally been able to get a grip on her world, "Who?" She asked as she got up from her knees, with some help from Naruto.

"Me."

Nojiko nearly jumped at the newest voice, but was glad all she let out was a startled squawk before turning around on her heels to face the person who had answered that hadn't been Naruto.

She turned around to find a male who was around their age who could be considered handsome with an aloof expression on his face. He had onyx coloured eyes with equally coloured hair that was tied down by a navy blue sash wrapped several times around his head. She couldn't accurately tell what he was wearing, but she knew that he wore a dark-coloured high-collared shirt of some kind underneath the tattered light brown poncho he wore over it that covered the majority of his upper body and lower body, along with tattered light blue pants, along with bandages that were wrapped around his ankles and the same kind of sandals Naruto wore. He finished off his look with three necklaces around his neck over his poncho.

"Uh," Nojiko let out dumbly as she looked at the dark-haired youth, "Hi." She finally said.

The youth looked at her with the same aloof expression on his face. She couldn't tell whether he was examining her or not because his eyes didn't even move up or down her body to take in her appearance.

Eventually, the boy's eyes moved away from her and drifted over towards Naruto, "Who's she?" He asked plainly.

Nojiko was barely able to suppress an annoyed twitch of the eyebrow, '_How rude! He didn't even introduce himself!'_

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Friendly as ever I see Sasuke." The blonde said, saying his name so that Nojiko knew his name, for Naruto damn well knew that Sasuke was never going to give it to her, "She's a friend." He finally said as he placed his hands into his pockets.

Sasuke's eyes drifted over to Nojiko once more before returning to Naruto, "...Girlfriend?"

Nojiko found herself blushing at the question and Naruto merely rolled his eyes once more, "Well, something like that. She's a girl and she is a friend." He said with an amused smirk on his face.

"Oh," Sasuke let out plainly, "That makes far more sense."

"Fuck you too teme." Naruto said in retort, "So what did you call me here for? I assume that flaring of chakra was a means to summon me right? Also, I'm kind of pissed that you rejected me and came here anyway on your own." He finished off, his arms out of his pockets now and crossed over his chest.

"I didn't come here on my own."

Naruto looked perplexed, "You didn't?"

Sasuke shook his head and indicated to the side with his head, his black locks swaying with the movement. Naruto and Nojiko followed his head and saw that at a separate rooftop stood three individuals.

Three people that Nojiko couldn't recognize, but Naruto immediately did, "You brought _her_?" He said, stressing the 'her', "Why not Sakura-chan?"

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, "Why didn't you bring Sakura?"

Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but closed it soon afterwards. He looked away, arms still crossed over his chest, "Shut up."

Nojiko didn't exactly know what to make of this. It seemed like Naruto and this Sasuke person knew each other, correction, they definitely knew each other and were on talking terms but their dynamics were strange to say the least. They seemed comfortable in each others presence, so she knew that they were friends, but they sure didn't act like it.

Naruto found his vision being obscured by something and he moved a hand to remove it, "What the hell was that for teme?" He didn't even have to guess who had thrown the...paper? Yeah, paper into his face. Why was Sasuke such a bastard? And here he had thought they had become such good friends after the whole trying to kill each other thing.

"Aren't you supposed to be on a scouting mission?" Sasuke asked, not deigning to bother answering Naruto's previous question, "What kind of scouting is this exactly?"

Naruto had a perplexed look on his face as he held the papers in his hands, "What the hell are you talking about teme?" He asked before he looked down at the posters. He blinked before quickly clutching the papers to his face, "What the hell? 'Devil Monkey'? 'The Calamity'? Wanted? What the fuck?"

"What is it Naruto?" Nojiko asked as she moved to his side to look at the papers he was holding. Naruto passed them over to his blue haired femme companion. She took them and her eyes widened, "Oh my god, you a wanted person."

"Clearly." Sasuke said, his tone making it rather obvious that he was being sarcastic about the whole thing, "Last time I checked, wanted posters were for wanted people."

Nojiko cast a dirty look in Sasuke's direction before looking at Naruto. Said blonde ninja sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, "Yes. Sasuke's has always been something of a dick. Why do you think I call him teme?"

"A term for endearment?" Nojiko ventured to guess dryly.

Naruto laughed, "Well, he calls me dobe, so I guess it is a term of endearment."

Nojiko gave him a look, "Is everyone from the Final Continent as queer as you two?"

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look between each other. Bright blue staring into onyx deep as the night. Naruto was the first to look away, "...Sort off. A queer personality is more of an occupation hazard than anything else."

Naruto decided to spare his female companion the prime examples of Maito Gai and Rock Lee. She was never going to meet them in her entire life span and thus she would probably find such people too outlandish to be real. The same would go for Kakashi and Jiraiya he guessed.

"Nojiko," Sasuke spoke, addressing the blue haired woman for the first time since the two had been made aware of each other's existence. Sasuke didn't give her time to acknowledge him calling her out, instead he continued speaking, "Two years ago, 10th October, what do you remember?"

Nojiko was taken back, "W-What?" She stuttered. What sort of question was that? And why was it important? She looked at Naruto and saw that he had something of a frown marring his face, as if he was remembering a bad memory, "Why? Why is that date important?" And how did he expect her to remember a specific day? It wasn't as if she had a photographic memory or the likes.

"It's not. It's just a question." Sasuke said evenly, "Answer it."

Nojiko crossed her arms below her chest, accentuating her bust and credit had to be given to Sasuke since his eyes didn't even once trail down from their position fixed onto her face, "Do I look like a walking calendar to you?" She half-snapped. She had just about had it with this rather admittedly cute guy being such...well teme as Naruto called him.

Naruto managed to suppress a chuckle but not the smirk as he looked at Sasuke, "You have to be nicer than that Sasuke." He said, "Like this, Nojiko-chan, two years ago, did you say...feel like you had the best day of your life? Like everything you wanted in life happened and then it just disappeared like it was a dream?" He asked, facing the girl, "Or if you want anymore details, when you woke up, you found yourself covered by some funny looking stuff? Or just giant branches or roots of a tree lying around?"

Sasuke turned his head to face Naruto, "That is such a lame-ass way of asking something."

"Shut up," Naruto barked back, "It's better than the way you asked. Mine has more details."

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders underneath his poncho, "Whatever."

Whilst the two had been busying talking between themselves, Nojiko had been thinking long and hard, trying to recall if she had a memory like the one Naruto had described for her. Her eyes eventually widened when she recalled something similar, "There was something like that." She finally said, getting the two powerful ninjas to look at her, "I remember a particular day where it felt as if everything in the world was perfect. Then like it appeared, it was gone. I remember seeing this giant wood-looking thing coming out of the ocean that started dying and withering not long afterwards."

Naruto took in a sharp breath of air, "A branch of the Shinju." He muttered underneath his breath, Sasuke being the only one able to pick it up.

"What happened afterwards?" Sasuke asked. One of the first things he had decided to look into the moment he had touched the first sign of civilization to the wider world was the effect the Shinju and Infinite Tsukuyomi had on the rest of the world. They all followed the same story and he was expecting this girls' to be no different.

Nojiko shrugged her slender shoulders, "Not long afterwards, when the branch or whatever it was had turned into nothing more than flakes of wood, there was an announcement by the World Government. Apparently the whole thing had been orchestrated by the Revolutionary Army to take control of the world."

Sasuke shook his head, "I expected as much. You aren't the first to tell me the same thing."

Naruto crossed his arms behind his head with a thoughtful look on his face, "The Revolutionary Army huh? We don't owe them anything do we? For taking the heat I mean."

"They were in the right place at the wrong time as far as we're concerned." Sasuke replied, "This World Government needed to explain what happened and who better than the rebels that threaten to destabilize their power? It's not like they could explain it if they could."

"Guess you have a point there." Naruto conceded nonchalantly.

The ninja world in general had only learned of the origins of chakra during the Fourth Shinobi War and the rest of the world didn't seem to be even aware of the life energy, even though they had it. Naruto guessed it was because unlike the people of the Elemental Continent, they didn't have the Rikudo Sennin to go around teaching them how to use the energy.

Still though, the somewhat passive reaction still asked a lot of questions. If it had been him, he would have done anything and everything possible to try and find the source of where the giant branches and roots had appeared from that had trapped people within an illusion for a near entire day.

'_Maybe they did,_' Naruto thought to himself, '_But their questions came to a dead end?'_ Well, he couldn't come to the right answers without knowing full well the wider breath of things.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto had an amused look on his face as he looked at his long-time rival become engulfed into the arms of a red-haired girl. Sasuke merely let out a sigh, "Karin, get off." He said as he slid out of her arms. He turned to glance at her, "I thought I said wanted to speak with Naruto alone and not to be disturbed? You better have a good reason for this."

"I do have a very good reason actually!" Karin stated as she had something of an angry pout on her face, which quickly disappeared at the sight of Sasuke turning his full attention on her. Her cheeks flushed, "Well, it's just I have been feeling a powerful presence on the island for a while now."

Karin hadn't changed much in two years. She still wore her hair in the same strange hairstyle of hers, one side straight and kempt, the other messy and unkempt except for the fact her hair had been cut shorter to reach her shoulder blades. She wore a long-sleeved, violet covered outfit that showed her midriff, short black shorts and fishnet stockings that ran down to her black shinobi sandals.

The dark-haired Uchiha raised an eyebrow, "I thought you said there was only one noticeable presence."

"There is, but I just sensed another one." She said, her arms rising to clutch herself, "This one is _more_ powerful than the other one." The difference in power wasn't even funny. If she had to compare it, the person would definitely be a top-tier shinobi...of the Kage variety.

Sasukes' expression didn't change much when he received that news. Instead he took it on with his usual aloof expression despite the way Karin was speaking, "Well, as long we don't attract attention, we have nothing to worry about."

"I guess." Karin said in acceptance. She turned her head to get a look at her fellow Uzumaki clansmen that she had only seen a few times in the past few years, "Naruto." She said in greeting before turning to look at Nojiko, her eyes trailing to a stop at her tattoo and more importantly her chest. Seeing the difference between...volume, she quickly cast a pointed look in Nojiko's direction, "And you are?"

Naruto rolled his eyes as Nojiko was taken back by the sudden hostility in the question, "I'm Nojiko..." She introduced herself, "Nice to meet you...I guess?" She finished off rather unsurely.

"Stop being mean to Nojiko-chan, Karin-chan." Naruto said with a smirk on his face.

"Unlikely. As long as the girl has a better chest than her, Karin will always be jealous."

A tick mark formed on Karin's head. She snapped her head in the direction of the voice, "Say that to my face Suigetsu!"

Suigetsu walked towards the group with a smirk on his face, "I would be more than willing to." He waved at Naruto, "Yo Blondie, haven't seen you in a while. Still alive and kicking I see?"

Suigetsu had grown taller in the past two years and his hair was still the same length. He wore a sleeveless striped blue shirt underneath a slim-lined light-blue vest of Kirigakure, dark-colored pants and sandals with striped arm warmers. The Kubikiribocho was strapped behind him and he had a water bottle strapped to his supply belt.

"Seems like it." Naruto replied with an easy smile of his own, "Aren't you a member of the Seven Swordsmen? What are you doing here?"

He shrugged, "I was bored. Nothing interesting happens anymore back home and Sasuke came calling...so I thought why not? If I'm lucky, I might come across people worth fighting or cutting, whichever comes first."

"Aha..." Naruto could only lamely nod his head before turning his head to the final member of the group, "Jugo." He said in greeting to the large young man. He was the only one he had been expecting to be with Sasuke. His old friend had taken the role of his caretaker ever since he released him from his prison.

Jugo didn't reply and instead gave him a nod of the head in greeting. Jugo hadn't changed much in two years. Like Sasuke, the tall, muscular young man wore an outfit that covered most of his body, in his case a cloak that hid most of his upper and lower body, blue pants and black sandals underneath from what he could tell. Naruto couldn't tell whether he wore a shirt underneath that cloak of his or not.

"Seems like you brought back the old group huh?" Naruto commented as he looked at Sasuke. He couldn't really say anything. Karin was about as good as any medic, some might even say better. Suigetsu was tough and Jugo...well, the less said about him the better despite his gentle nature.

Sasuke shrugged, "I needed a team, they were available." He looked at Naruto, "You are going to this Grand Line aren't you?"

Naruto blinked in shock, "How did you know?"

"You're about as easy to read as an open book." Sasuke returned as he dug into his pockets and took out a glass orb with a thin needle sitting inside it, "You are going to need this apparently if you are going in that direction."

Naruto took the glass orb and examined it, "Is this supposed to be a compass? It's not pointing north."

Nojiko was quick to snatch it out of Naruto's hands, "A Log Pose!" She exclaimed, a sigh of relief leaving her lips. She noticed the look on Naruto's face before explaining, "You need one of these things to navigate the Grand Line because, apparently, normal compasses don't work in that part of the sea for some reason." She looked at Sasuke, "These are rather difficult to come by. How did you get one?"

Sasuke gave her a blank look, "I asked the Marines."

"What?" The blue-haired female let out in confusion as a round of chuckles went through the group of people that were in the know, even Naruto was chuckling. She felt as if some kind of inside joke had been told.

***BOOM!***

Nojiko and Karin jumped in when they had the boom of thunder along with what looked to be an explosion. The males who didn't jump turned their attention in the direction of the explosion and saw smoke coming from the center of the town.

Naruto looked up, "Wow, this storm moved in rather quickly." He commented absentmindedly.

"Was that lightning?" Nojiko asked, a hand on her racing heart as she tried to calm down, "And it hit the center of town to." He faced paled slightly, "Wait, weren't Silk and Konohamaru heading in that direction?" Gol D. Rogers execution platform was located near the center of town and both of her other crewmates had said they were interested in seeing the place.

"It would take more than a simple lightning strike to kill Konohamaru..." Naruto said easily before frowning, "Silk on the other hand..." He trailed off before grabbing Nojiko and pulling her in once more. He waved at Sasuke and his group, "Well, this was fun Sasuke, gotta run." He finished off as he disappeared in a Shunshin.

Suigetsu chuckled as he watched the leaves drop to the ground, "How did you go several years without having to cut him up into nice little pieces?"

Sasuke's onyx eyes drifted towards the ninja swordsman, "Untold self-restraint." With his piece said, he turned and began to make for the docks, "Come on, we're done here. We're going."

XxX

(With Naruto &amp; Nojiko)

Naruto reappeared in the midst of a crowd that was busy dispersing either from the shock of seeing two people appear out of nowhere or the Marines that were in the middle of a pitched battle with a group of pirates and didn't want to be caught in the crossfire...maybe even both.

Naruto caught a familiar sight of Zoro, Luffy and Sanji make their away from the square towards the docks, "Was that Luffy and the others right then?" He asked, his question directed towards Nojiko. Not receiving an answer, he glanced in her direction and saw her eyes were swimming, "Oh...you are still not used to high speeds yet."

"Boss!"

Naruto turned his head to see familiar pony-tailed blonde hair and spiky brown hair make their way towards him. He grinned, "You would never guess what Konohamaru, me and you are wanted men!"

The younger ninja skidded to a halt in front of Naruto with a pleased look on his face, "I know!" He said rather excitedly, "So cool. Almost like a Bingo Book back home. But '_Devil Monkey_'? What the hell? Couldn't they come up with something better than that?" He mumbled somewhat angrily.

Silk just looked at the two with a look of disbelief. She was sure she had come across the only two people in the world that would actually be happy about getting a bounty on their heads, "Why are you two happy? Don't you know what it means being a wanted person?" She asked in quick succession.

Naruto nodded his head, "Yeah, it means the rest of the world has finally come to the conclusion we're badasses. All I had to do was kill a pirate."

"And a couple of corrupt Marines, let's not forget." Konohamaru chimed in rather happily.

Naruto crossed his arms, "That was Kurama, not me."

Konohamaru went to say something but was stopped by Silk, "Can we _not_ speak about that?" She hissed, putting both her hands on their mouth to keep them quiet, "Don't you see the Marines around the place? You can't be going around bragging about something like that!"

Naruto raised a hand and moved Silk's hand away from his mouth, "Calm down Silk-chan, stop getting yourself tied into a knot. If something does happen, we can always fight our way out." He said before looking at Konohamaru, "Right, Konohamaru and the rest of you guys go back to the ship and get ready to set sail." He finished off as he passed a still dizzy Nojiko into Konohamaru's eyes.

The younger ninja took the older girl into his arms, "What about you boss? What are you going to do?" He asked as he saw Naruto about to take to the rooftops.

"I'm going to make sure some friends of ours make it off the island in one piece...and not in chains or anything like that." He replied as he jumped off to the rooftops and headed in the direction he last saw the Strawhats running off in.

Konohamaru shrugged, "Well you had the boss, back to the ship!" He said as he carried Nojiko and made his own way back to the docks.

Silk quickly followed, glad that Naruto had deactivated the resistance seal on her body otherwise she would have found it difficult to keep up with Konohamaru...even though he was running far slower than he usually did for her benefit, "You do realize we're going to have to give the ship a name sooner or later right?"

"Meh, we'll do that later."

XxX

(With Naruto)

Naruto had taken to the rooftops and was quick to catch up with his newly made friends in the Strawhats. He was somewhat amused when it started raining heavily all of a sudden and he looked up to see that the sky was now black with storms clouds.

'_That storm really came in quickly.'_ He didn't know if this was just natural when it came to the rest of the world or whether someone was doing it, but all he knew that if this was man-made, whoever had created the storm must have been some effing powerful guy.

He soon came up to Zoro and saw him fighting against a girl with short dark hair and wearing glasses. He debated on whether interfering or not, but the decision was taken out of his hands when he saw a mass of smoke suddenly go towards Luffy.

Last time Naruto had checked, masses of smoke didn't have wills of their own that included chasing after people. So he decided to leave Zoro to the sword duel with the girl, he had faith in the former pirate hunter.

When he neared Luffy, Sanji and the mass of smoke, it turned into a muscular man with short white hair who wore a blue and white Marine jacket with fur lining the neck, hem and wrists with no shirt underneath, dark blue pants and thick, brown boots and leather gloves. On his back was a jutte and he was strangely smoking two cigars at once.

"Strawhat Luffy." The man spoke as he stood in front of Sanji and Luffy.

"Who are you?" Luffy shouted at the Marine as he continued running in the direction he was standing, not bothering to come to a stop.

"The name's Smoker," The man introduced himself to the young pirates, "I'm a Captain of the Marine Headquarters." His arms suddenly turned into smoke that went towards Luffy's direction, "And I won't allow you to escape!"

Luffy found himself surprised when the smoke managed to catch him and lift him up into the air. Sanji was quick to move to try and free his captain, "Why you, freak of nature!" He exclaimed as he tried to kick the man in the face but found his leg going through him, his head turning into smoke.

Half of Smoker's head reformed from its smoky state. He gave a one eyed glare in Sanji's direction, "I don't have time for runts like you, Howaito Boru (White Blow)!" A cloud of dense smoke hit Sanji straight in the abdomen, sending him flying straight into a wall.

Luffy tried to land a punch on Smoker in retaliation for what he did but only found his arm going straight through him, Smoker turning into smoke once more, "Huh?" The Strawhat wearing pirate dumbly let out.

Smoker reformed himself behind Luffy with a hand on his head, "Are you really worth 30 million beli?" He asked as he locked Luffy's legs behind him, causing Luffy to crash face first into the ground, Naruto winced at the sight on behalf of his friend. Smoker snorted, "Looks like your luck has come to an end." He said as he went to draw his jutte.

Naruto was about to utilize a quick Shunshin at the sight when he saw someone appear behind Smoker and rest a hand on Smoker's arm, "Perhaps not."

Naruto blinked at the show of speed, "Well, consider me fucking surprised..." There was someone in the world who could move that fast? And Naruto hadn't picked him up? Granted he was paying attention to the sight in front of him, but still, some commendation had to be given here.

'**He's definitely S-rank strong...'** Kurama muttered from within the depths of Naruto's mind at the sight of the cloaked man who had surprised both his container and himself, '**And disgustingly powerful too. He's probably the presence that cousin of yours was referring too.'**

Naruto wanted to reply, but found himself cut short when a sudden gale of wind ran through the area, blowing away Smoker and probably him too if he hadn't quickly stuck himself to the nearest solid and sturdy surface with chakra.

The storm gave the opportunity for Zoro and Sanji to pick-up Luffy and quickly make their getaway towards their ship, Zoro muttering something about a huge storm coming towards the town.

Naruto dropped to the ground after the gale of wind subsided and looked in the direction that the Strawhats had run off in. He did a quick look around for the cloaked guy but found the man had disappeared as soon as he had arrived and he wasn't a sensor unless he was in Sage Mode so there was no point in searching him out.

"...I so want to fight that guy." Naruto whined after a while, "Why did he have to leave?" And he could also write off the reason as being necessary to his mission. He had to learn about the world didn't he? That also included people who could be absurdly powerful who could be a danger to his home.

A deep chuckle came from within the boundary of Naruto's mind, '**Knowing your luck, you'll run into him eventually and maybe then you'll have that fight you want.'**

"I guess..." At least with his appearance, Naruto could now say that the world probably had some scary powerful people in it and it was his job to see how powerful...for the good of his home of course, not that he wants to fight them for the sake of fighting them to get the old blood pumping.

The sound of an oncoming motorcycle attracted his attention. He turned around and saw the white haired Marine captain from before coming at him. He just eyed the man as his bike came to a skidding halt several feet away from him.

The two men simply looked at each other before Naruto broke the silence, "Didn't anyone ever tell you that smoking is bad for your health?" He quipped in lieu of a greeting.

Smoker got off his bike, "'The Calamity' Uzumaki Naruto, one of the youngest Marine killing pirates in the world. First Monkey D. Luffy, then Dragon, now you, seems like today is my lucky day."

Naruto had a smile on his face, "Lucky day? Oh no sir, you have it all wrong. Today is not your lucky day, today is the unluckiest day of your life." He sniggered, "I mean, I am 'The Calamity' for a reason." His smile then dropped, "And I'm not a pirate...and I didn't kill those Marines, my pet fox did." He had to flinch slightly at the loud yell of indignation from said pet fox.

"It doesn't matter, you are a wanted felon and I'm bringing you in, Howaito Auto (White Out)." He shot out his arms which turned into a smoke that went to surround and engulf Naruto. However, Naruto was more than quick enough to meet the attack and quickly used a coverless Shunshin to stop himself from getting surrounded.

He then rushed forward and appeared in front of Smoke who had a noticeable widening of the eyes in surprise at the feat of speed shown with a fist cocked back that he released straight into his face. Instead of having the satisfying feeling of punching someone, he watched with some annoyance as his fist went through his head much like Sanji and Luffy's attack.

He had to quickly retreat when Smoker's recalled his smoke arms to try and engulft him once more. He _tsked_, "Well that's annoying. I should have expected it after seeing Luffy and Sanji do the same thing, but that's really annoying."

Smoke was billowing around Smoker originating from the sockets where his arms should have been, "I ate the Moku Moku no Mi (Smoke Smoke Fruit), a logia type Devil Fruit. I can't be harmed by most attacks except for their weakness."

So this was a Devil Fruit? He had heard quite the number of people yell out the words but he had no idea what they were until now, '_And there's types of them too by the sound of it. How fun.'_ Now that he thought about it...Luffy said something about a Devil Fruit back on Commi Island...but he was too drunk to remember what exactly but it came back to him when he recalled Luffy stretching arm when he tried to hit Smoker earlier, '_Oh right, Luffy ate one of those Devil Fruits and what else again? I'm sure he said something else afterwards, something useful.'_

"It's over Uzumaki, Howaito Suneku (White Snake)!" Smoker launched a white cloud of smoke that took the shape of a snake from his hand that flew straight at Naruto.

Naruto blinked before jumping to a nearby rooftop to avoid the attack, "Well, that was surprising. Nearly got lost in my thoughts the-Oh you got to be fucking kidding me." He mumbled when he saw the smoke snake turn around and come at him. He quickly got on his proverbial bike and started running around, trying to avoid the smoke snake that wouldn't leave him alone, "Great, it's a homing attack. Why shouldn't it? Not like it's user is annoying enough as it is."

"Just give up and save me the trouble Uzumaki. You won't escape." Smoker yelled as he rushed Naruto, the jutte that was on his back within his hand, "I'll chase you to the ends of hell if I have to."

Naruto kept moving about trying to avoid the snake cloud, making sure that whenever he dodged, he didn't move towards the trail of smoke it left behind. He didn't want to see if Smoker could control the smoke trail as well as the snake at the same time, "Well good for you. Even if you chase me to the ends of hell, you still won't be able to catch me. It's a thousand years too early for you."

'**And yet look what we have here, he's kicking your ass.'**

Naruto frowned, '_He's not kicking my ass. My ass has not been kicked, hell, he hasn't even touched me yet._'

'**Why don't you just run away? You can't beat him if you can't hit him.'**

'_Uzumaki Naruto does not run away. I'll think of a way to beat him, just you wait._' Naruto said, closing the door shut on that particular conversation. Even though he was rather confident of his abilities and with the knowledge that a very few people in the world could very well defeat him in a fight, he wasn't at all confident at the moment.

The giant fox had a point about all this. How could he defeat someone if he couldn't very well hit them?

He backflipped over a jutte swipe from Smoker who had tried to flank him from behind with his attention on the snake, "And you're not only a thousand years too early to beat me, you're thousands of years too early to _sneak_ up on me." He said mid-flip before he caught sight of the blue sea, '_Wait a second...water, Luffy said something about how he can't swim because of that Devil Fruit thing didn't he? I'm pretty damn sure he did...well, if it doesn't work, at least I would have tried something.'_

"What are you grinning about?" Smoker asked as he recalled his smoke snake back into his arm, seeing no reason to waste his energy with an attack that couldn't trap the blonde, "You have no reason to be spotting that grin or nothing to be confident about." He finished, his eyes narrowed slightly at the blonde, trying to think of a reason as to why the blonde had a grin on his face.

"Oh this," Naruto said as he quickly went through a quick set of hand signs in a speed that would have made Kakashi proud, "Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Violent Water Wave)!" From his mouth, Naruto shot out a gush of water that struck the surprised Marine flush, sending him spiraling away before crashing into a building.

Naruto canceled his jutsu and saw that Smoker was drenched in water. Smoker had some trouble getting up from the hit of pressurised jet of water that had struck him, "What?" He let out in surprise, using his jutte to help him stand, "Water? Just-What?" He was speechless and rightly so. He wasn't aware of any Devil Fruit that allowed a person to actually manipulate water, such a thing shouldn't have been possible considering the relationship between the two things.

Naruto had a silly grin on his face, "Well, not what I was expecting but markedly better. So all I have to do is use Water Release jutsus on someone like you? Or Devil Fruit users in general? Fine by me. I have a whole lot of them where I come from." He raised his hand and made a come hither motion, "Come at me bro."

Smoker growled as he turned his whole body and launched himself at Naruto. His opponent leapt high into the air away from him, his hands blaring through those strange signs he did with his hands once more, "Howaito Bain (White Vine)!" Smoker transformed himself into a spiralling column of smoke that rose high up into the sky to grab at Naruto.

Naruto's hands finally rested on one hand seal, "Suiton: Haran Bansho (Water Release: Stormy Blockade)!" Naruto used his chakra to summon a large amount of water from the sky, that had also been increased in volume by the torrent of rain pouring down on the town from the storm.

The water came crashing down on Smoker, cancelling his attack and smashing him straight into the ground with an audible noise.

Naruto canceled the jutsu and landed on a nearby rooftop and looked down into the street were Smoker lay in a small crater, unable to get up, "Well," The blonde said slowly as he looked over a downed Smoker who was glaring up at him, "I think this is my win. Although I can't say this has been fun, because it hasn't. I hope this serves as a lesson to you." He turned and prepared to jump away, "Later." He said in parting as he vanished beyond the buildings.

Smoker looked up from where Naruto had disappeared with an angry look on his face, "That guy..." He said in a growl, his body drenched and soaked in water, "I won't stop until I catch him and throw him into Impel Down personally."

XxX

"_You left him!_" Silk and Nojiko yelled at a particularly indifferent Konohamaru.

The teenager merely winced a the volume being used, but didn't at all react to the shouts, "He'll be fine." He said casually as he continued to steer the ship away from Loguetown, in the direction Nojiko had directed him in that led towards the place called Reverse Mountain.

"How can he be fine?" Nojiko half-snapped, half-shouted. She pointed in the direction of Loguetown, which was now safely in the distance, "How is he supposed to cross all that water? Swim?" She finished off sarcastically.

Silk had a look on her face, "...I think he would actually." She said. Even though she had only come to know him for the better part of nearly a month, she could honestly say that Naruto did seem like the person who would swim a stupid amount of water just to prove a point of some kind.

After they had arrived back at their ship and had prepared themselves for cast-off, Nojiko and Silk had found themselves horrified when Konohamaru had just started sailing away from Loguetown without his friend and older brother like figure without seemingly a care in the world. They tried to stop him, but he was more than up to the challenge of just evading them.

"You two worry too much." Konohamaru said with a shrug of the shoulders, "The boss will turn up." As cool a look he had on his face, the young ninja was actually chomping at the bit. He had learned early in life that it was never a good thing to anger a girl, especially a girl that also doubled as the ships cook, '_Hurry back quickly boss.'_

"Well, I learned something particularly new today."

Speak of the devil. Konohamaru gave a 'I told you look' to the two females that were gaping at Naruto who had casually jumped off the railings at the stern of the ship, "Welcome back boss."

"It's good to be back." Naruto said with his hands on his hips and a victorious look on his face. He then noticed the looks on Silk and Nojiko's face, "What's wrong with you two?"

The two females looked from Loguetown that was now firmly in the distance behind them and Naruto, "How?" Silk asked breathlessly and slightly in disbelief. She pointed from Naruto to Loguetown and back again, "How did you get from there to here? Konohamaru left you!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow before shrugging, "I ran." He ignored the looks of annoyance on the girls faces as he went over to Konohamaru, "So where is our pretty little navigator lady sending us off to buddy?"

"A place called Reverse Mountain." Konohamaru answered dutifully as he steered the ship.

"Reverse Mountain?" Naruto repeated, "Sounds like fun. Well, I'm going to take a nap, wake me up when we get to this Reverse Mountain."

Nojiko was the first to get out of her annoyed stupor just in time to see Naruto disappear down the flight of stairs that led to the steering wheel, "Naruto's never going to answer a question straightforwardly is he?" She asked, her question directed towards Konohamaru.

The chunin ranked ninja shook his head in the negative, "He thinks it adds to his mystique."

"What mystique?"

"Exactly."

XxX

Not long after Naruto had sent him crashing into the ground due to a large amount of water that appeared from nowhere as far as he was concerned, Smoker was found by some of his subordinates that quickly got him back up to his feet. He didn't wait for anymore medical attention as he quickly made his way towards the docks and to his ship to either get Naruto or the Strawhats, whichever he came across first.

"Forgive us sir, but due to the sudden storm and winds, we lost Buggy the Clown-." One of the Marines tried to report as Smoker walked past him.

"I'm going to continue pursuing Strawhat and The Calamity." He said, ignoring the report, "Go and prep our ship for departure."

"Huh, what sir?" A Marine asked, confused.

"I'm going to the Grand Line." Smoker declared in a resolute manner, shocking the Marines in attendance.

"I'm coming too, sir!"

The Marines turned to face the girl Zoro had been fighting before. The girl with short, dark-blue hair, glasses who wore a dark coloured jacket, a yellow shirt and dark blue slacks.

"Master Chief Petty Officer!" The Marines cried out.

The female Marine had a determined look on her face as she clutched a sword in her arms, "I can't forgive that Roronoa Zoro. I swear I'll bring him down with my own two hands!"

One Marine tried to question his course of action, "But sir, this town is under your jurisdiction! What will the higher-ups say if they hear you abando-."

Like the other Marines, he wasn't given a chance to finish off his sentence as Smoker gave him a look, "You can tell them 'Don't order me around!'." He said as he and Tashigi made their way towards the docks, with the Marines following closely behind with some looks on their faces.

When Smoker came to the pier he had left his ship in, he found the Marines he had left to look over the ship wandering about in a daze and his ship gone. He walked towards one of them and noticed the glazed look he had and shook him, "Get yourself together Marine!" He said in a growl as he shook the Marine.

The Marine managed to come back to reality as he looked around, "Huh, wha, what happened?" He asked as he looked around. He then noticed Smoker, "Captain!" He quickly said as he stood at attention and saluted.

Smoker looked around, "...Where's my ship?"

The Marine blinked, "Ship? It's over the-." He stopped when he noticed the ship wasn't in the pier where he had last seen it, "Well, that can't be right."

"Exactly," Smoker growled lowly, "Where is my_ ship_?"

The Marine jumped at the tone of the voice as he racked his brain trying to remember, "R-Red eyes!"

Smoker quirked an eyebrow, "Red eyes? What is that supposed to mean?"

"I remember being on the ship, guarding it as I was ordered to, then I saw red, spinning eyes and then everything went black until now sir!"

Smoker bit through his cigars, "What?" Today was just not his day was it?

XxX

(Konoha)

"Out of all the people you could have chosen," Senju Tsunade muttered as she sat on a couch, "You chose Naruto? You do realize that Naruto's definition of scouting is different from other people's right?" She asked as she looked at her successor with a pointed look.

Kakashi shrugged, the look he was receiving from the most powerful woman on the planet not doing much to scare him, "Gaara suggested Naruto and the other Kages agreed, apparently, they thought he was the most suitable for such a thing."

Tsunade groaned as she rubbed the bridge of her nose before just shrugging uncaringly, "Well, it's not my place to worry about these things anymore."

"Aren't you my advisor?" Kakashi asked with some amusement to his voice, "You should be advising me about these sorts of things."

The legendary, buxom kunoichi had an amused smile on her face, "I would more than likely suggest you drink rather than give you any meaningful advice."

"Hm..." Kakashi hummed, "I guess." The next moment, a puff of smoke on his table signaled the arrival of a messenger toad, "His first report, about time. Thank you." He said to the small toad as it dropped a scroll onto his desk before disappearing again in a puff of smoke.

Tsunade got up from her seat and went towards the Hokage's table, "What is it?"

Kakashi unrolled the scroll and saw it was a storage scroll. He raised an eyebrow before releasing its content to reveal two posters. He looked at them with a dry expression before Tsunade picked them up and roared in laughter after examining them.

"...If anybody asks, this is all Gaara's fault..." He had been gone for nearly half a year, and he was already a wanted person? How was he going to explain this at the next Kage meeting? There wasn't an written report at all, "I need a drink."

* * *

**AN: Chapter Four, enjoy! I think I did the IT event some justice, but I will get onto further more as I go into the story. It just won't be a one chapter thing, it'll keep making appearances in future chapters, so don't worry about it boys and girls.**

**Well, Raiden out.**


	5. I Came, I Saw,,,Not Impressed

**Shutouts: Well, that's mostly because I think Oda doesn't give many villains that are actually redeemable. In fact, unlike Kishi and Naruto, Oda's more interested in the adventures and story telling of Luffy and company rather than the what I would consider the philosophical nature of Naruto.**

**I'm sure if you came across Arlong, would you try to redeem him? He destroyed and killed the inhabitants of one village to prove a point and he's undeniably and clearly racist. Kishi would probably have found a way to redeem him, much like how he redeemed Obito, but Oda didn't bother with that, instead, he just went straight to giving Arlong the beating of his life.**

**And even if I had tried the whole redeeming thing, I couldn't particularly think of anything that would make it seem realistic and let's not forget that Nami and the villagers of Commi Island would probably be less willing to forgive and forget for what Arlong had done than Naruto. Well, that's what I think anyway.**

**He's still working out the kinks of the Hiraishin. Pretty sure I touched on this in the first chapter. **

**Morrowing: It's still the early part of the Grand Line and the story. They haven't come across any of the bigger shakers of the OP world yet. So I admit, it'll probably be curb-stomping battles until the Alabasta Arc or so.**

**Tarrangar: Infinite Tsukuyomi mate.**

**AkiTsuki-chan: Sasuke and company will have their own story line which I'll get a start on later on in the story.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece

* * *

I Came, I Saw...Not Impressed

"So this thing wraps around the entire world?" Naruto asked as he looked at the looming landmass in the distance that stretched as far as the eye could see. He had looked to the left and the right to see how far it stretched, but it was an exercise in futility. It seemed as if he was going to have to take at face value about what Nojiko and Silk had said about this place. Apparently, it stretched all the way around the world, like a ring, "I can't even see the top." He finished, craning his neck up to try and peer through the clouds that obscured the rest of the monstrous landmass.

Thunder boomed somewhere in the distance and followed by the flashes of lightning. They were currently in the midst of a storm, most likely the same storm that had struck Loguetown suddenly when they had made for their escape some days past.

Silk was standing beside Naruto and unlike the blonde ninja, she had the sense to wear a raincoat to protect herself from the heavy falling rain, "That's the Red Line." She pointed out as if that was the most basic thing in the world, "Stretches right around the world. Like a ring."

"So I've been told." The blonde haired, blue eyed ninja scratched the back of his neck in thought. He frowned at what he was seeing, "So how exactly to we go past It?" He remembered something about a Reverse Mountain, "Me and Konohamaru could probably climb it, might take a while and might end up in me having to carry Konohamaru a few times along the way, but we'll still be able to pull it off. You and Noji-chan though? That's asking a bit too much." And he wasn't even taking into account the fact that he would probably have to leave his beloved ship behind. The ship that he had painfully acquired from the hands of a nefarious ne'er-do-gooder.

The resident blonde swordswoman gave her fellow blonde that could be translated as if a second head had somehow magically sprouted on his shoulders, "Climb over?"

Naruto gave a simple nod of the head, "Yeah. If it really came down to it, I could even fly over it." He had to brush away some locks of his hair that had been blown to the front of his eyes, '_I wonder if I need a haircut?' _That was a thought for later.

Silk couldn't even find the words, "You can _fly?"_

"Well, yeah. Did I not say?"

"No!" She nearly shouted at the blonde. Silk would honestly say that she didn't exactly know how strong Naruto was, or what he could do, but some of the things he claimed he was able to do seemed to be just downright absurd. Now he was saying that he could fly. Was she actually supposed to believe that? She needed cold hard evidence, "Alright then, if you can fly, show me."

Naruto craned his head to look at her, "Show you?" He had to wince slightly when lightning flashed in the distance behind Silk. His vision was blurred by blobs and spots for a few moments.

Silk gave a firm nod of the head, "Yep! Show me."

"Maybe some other time." Flying meant having to go Six Paths Sage Mode...and doing that just to show some uppity sixteen year old that he could, indeed fly seemed rather overkill. Naruto didn't mind the overkill, only when it had a purpose. Right now, he couldn't see any purpose in doing such a thing.

Silk just took that as Naruto's admission that he could not, in fact, fly. She had a smile on her delicate features and a victorious look, "Come on, we have to tell Nojiko that we're nearing the Red Line." She said as she turned to go below deck.

Naruto gave a reluctant nod of the head. He had seen the smile and look on Silk's features and had been tempted right then and there to wipe both things of her face in quick succession, '_She doesn't know.' _It wasn't exactly Silk's fault that the world had yet to realise just how blindingly brilliant Naruto was or what he could do. So instead, he allowed himself to give Silk this small pleasure...until the time comes for him to go Six Paths Sage Mode and start flying around. He could almost see the look that would be upon her face.

They found Nojiko in the rest room, perusing over a map with a look of intent on her face. Silk had the decency to remove her raincoat at the entrance before entering. Naruto on the other hand was soaked to the bone and he left a trail of rain water wherever he walked.

"Woah boss," Konohamaru let out when he saw his role model-slash-older brother figure enter the rest room. He had a sandwich in his hand, "Did you just stand out in the rain?" His words attracted Nojiko's attention as she looked up from her map to lay eyes on Naruto and Silk.

Silk threw herself onto one of the couches. She laid down on the couch, legs outstretched, "That's exactly what he did."

"I hope you don't plan on sitting down." Nojiko said, a dry look upon her delicate features.

Naruto stopped short of sitting down on one of the single seated couches, "Eh, no?" He said slowly, moving away from the seat. Nojiko had a smile on her face and the captain of the ship found himself grumbling to himself as he leaned against a wall, "So yeah, we're at the Red Line. What now?"

Nojiko pushed away the map she was looking at. She somehow found herself on the receiving end of the attention of everyone in the room. She cleared her throat, "The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain."

Konohamaru brought his sandwich away from his face, "You seriously weren't joking when you say the entrance was a mountain?" The world sure had some weird geography.

The blue haired navigator gave the young teen a firm nod of the head, "Exactly. I have a hard time believing it myself, but that's how it is." She was no expert nor would she claim to be. Nami had the better navigational skill than her, that was sure enough, but she knew how to read a map better than others. Certainly better than everybody else on this ship that was for sure.

As if he was in an academy classroom all over again, Naruto raised a hand. Nojiko nodded at him to speak and once again, he couldn't help but think of the academy, "So exactly how do we cross this mountain? Cos if we have to climb, I'm not leaving my ship behind." A captain always went down with his ship.

"We won't have to." She indicated at a point towards the map. Naruto moved himself from the wall to look down at where she was pointing, "There's a waterway right here." She finished, tapping on the point.

Naruto still didn't seem convinced, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the water go _down?_ I mean, call me crazy, but last time I checked, water would go down a mountain...you know, because of gravity."

Nojiko gave the blonde haired captain a love tap on the head, "Don't treat me like an idiot Naruto-kun. I know what I'm talking about." That was a damnable lie through and through. Despite seeing it right in front of her on the map, even she didn't understand how the ship was supposed to travel up a mountain on a waterway.

"Maybe it's a magic mountain." Silk suggested with a tone that showed that she was entirely being playful with the idea yet somehow, oddly serious.

Konohamaru chuckled, "A magic mountain? I would love to see that." He stopped for a moment to think before raising up a point, "Why do we even need to cross this supposed magic mountain? Why not go south? Circumvent the whole thing."

"Because that would be an extremely stupid thing to do." Nojiko said bluntly, a stern look on her fair features, "And suicidal, let's not forget suicidal."

Konohamaru looked as if someone had stabbed him in the heart, "I'm sorry...I didn't know my suggestion would be so bad..."

The navigator's features loosened up at seeing Konohamaru's reaction. She sighed, "It's not that your idea is bad Konohamaru. It's just that the Grand Line is surrounded by two ocean belts called the Calm Belts. There's no wind there. And this is a sail ship, we need wind to, you know, sail."

Naruto raised a hand, "Well that makes everything simpler then. My element is wind."

Nojiko and Silk shared a look before looking back at the blonde captain, "What?"

"I can manipulate the wind."

"Of course you can," Silk said, "And I'm sure you can also manipulate fire, earth, lightning and water."

Naruto had a dry look on his face, "I can actually do all of those things." Now he was really itching to show the young swordswoman that when he said he could do something, he could very well damn do it, '_And then after I'm done doing that, I'm going to make her training even more hellish.'_ Uzumaki Naruto was a forgiving and understanding teacher, but he did not tolerate any sass from his students for any prolonged amount of time. He was not Hatake Kakashi.

Nojiko instead of calling out on Naruto's abilities decided to err on the side of caution, "Even if you can manipulate the wind Naruto-kun, it's best not to travel in the Calm Belt."

He cocked his head to the side when he turned his head to face her, "Why?"

"Sea Kings."

"I have no idea what those things are." From the side, Konohamaru shared the same thought as that of the older ninja.

Nojiko sighed, "They are monsters. Really, _really_ big monsters that rule the sea. They come in all shapes and sizes and if we're stupid enough to take the ship into the Calm Belts, they will. Sink. This. Ship." She made sure to emphasize every last word of her sentence, just to drive in the point.

Naruto wanted to question Nojiko on the subject at hand, but decided to let it go. It's not like he could call this particular stretch of the woods home and Nojiko and Silk probably, knew a lot more than him and Konohamaru combined, "Alright, whatever you say. No Calm Belt."

Nojiko had a smile on her face before suddenly stopping. She looked at Naruto, "...How far away from the Red Line are we?"

Naruto and Silk shared a look before both shrugged their shoulders, "I don't know. My measurements are a bit screwed up at the moment." He could move far faster than the ship when he ran. Naruto cupped the bottom of his chin and began to scratch underneath it, "If I had to guess, maybe some several minutes or so?" He didn't understand the look on Nojiko's face, "...What?"

"You idiots!" She yelled as she quickly rose to her feet and made a dash for the deck, "Are you telling me no-one manning the helm!?" Her voice rang through the room, long after she had run out the door.

The others, still the rest room shared a look amongst themselves. The chuunin in the room swallowed a bite of his sandwich, "Should we go after her?" He asked, "She might need our help."

After a moment of thinking it over, Naruto finally came to a decision, "We are going after her. Come on people, let's move it." He finished off as he started making for the deck himself.

Konohamaru frowned as he looked at his sandwich and then out of a window as he looked at the rain that was still pouring heavily outside, "Fuck." That rain and his sandwich where not going to be friends whatsoever. He just knew it. He sighed as he put away his snack to the side for the time being and made his way to the deck, "Come on Silk, stop lazing about."

Silk had some trouble rising to her feet. The rest room was so warm and comfy, especially after standing outside in the cold where it was raining heavily. She just didn't want to leave, "I'm coming, I'm coming." She half-yawned. She had nearly found herself taking a nap.

When the two youths eventually made their way to the deck, they were met with the strangest of sights both of them had ever come to see.

"You have got to be kidding me." Konohamaru muttered as he looked wide eyed at the sight in front of him, "When you said magic mountain back then, I thought you were joking."

"I _was_ joking." Silk said, herself stunned as she looked upon the sight a fair distance away to the front of them, "I didn't think this Reverse Mountain was actually a magic mountain!"

When Nojiko had told them that the entrance to the Grand Line was a water way, Silk and Konohamaru were sure that they hadn't been the only ones to think how they could use a waterway to make a ship climb a mountain.

In front of them was the entrance to the Grand Line and the ocean was literally going _up_ the mountain. The waterway that was to take them into the Grand Line was bordered by what looked like to be several gates at the entrance, but from then on, it was just fast flowing water rushing up the mountain.

"Silk! Konohamaru!" Nojiko shouted at them from the helm of the ship, her hands grasped tightly and firmly onto the wheel. She had a look of strain on her face, "Glad of you to join us! Took you long enough!"

Nojiko seemed a little angry, that the two of them could agree just judging by the tone of her voice. Both teenagers quickly rushed to her side, "Do we need to do anything?" Konohamaru asked.

The ship was really rocking now and if their eyes were playing tricks on them, they would have sworn that they were now moving far faster than they had been previously before. Nojiko gave them both a firm nod, "Get to the rudder. Get a firm grip on It. We have to do this just right, if we veer of course even a little, we're dead."

"Got it/Alright." Konohamaru and Silk said at both the same time before rushing off to get to the rudder.

Nojiko looked up towards the crow's nest, "How's it looking Naruto-kun?"

Naruto's head peeked over the crow's nest, "We're veering a little of course. Go right, right." He stopped for a moment to think about something, "I mean starboard. Starboard!" He finished off before his head disappeared from view once more.

Nojiko had trouble turning the wheel, "You heard the man, starboard!" She yelled behind her, towards Konohamaru and Silk who were trying their best to keep the rudder steady. The waters really were becoming rather difficult and extremely choppy as well.

Naruto's head popped up once more from the crow's nest, "Oh yeah, I think I saw Luffy's ship." He had been following the river up the mountain, just looking at it in mundane amusement at how such a thing was possible before he noticed a fast moving object travelling up the river. That was when he had whipped out the telescope to get a better view and in time just to see a rather familiar jolly roger before it disappeared to the other side of the mountain.

"You did!?" Nojiko had something of a smile on her face. So her sister had safely been able to go past through this place? That made her even more determined to make sure that they themselves survive the entrance. Her story was just beginning.

The ship jerked and rocked as it was pulled into the current of the river that went up Reverse Mountain. The ship jerked so much when they finally neared the entrance that Nojiko would have would herself sitting flat on her butt if it wasn't for the fact that she had been holding onto the steering wheel.

She glimpsed behind her to see that Konohamaru and Silk had been able to keep firm hands on the rudder despite the jerking and rocking motion of the ship. Silk had trouble standing on her feet as she occasionally kept having to move her feet to get a grip on the wet, wooden floor. Konohamaru didn't seem to have that problem at all she observed. For a second or two, the young woman thought she could see a faint blue glow around the young teenagers feet before dismissing it when she turned her attention back to what was happening in front of her.

"Here we go!" Naruto yelled as they reached the entrance before the ship suddenly tilted upwards as the current of the river carried it up Reverse Mountain.

The sudden increase in speed from the moment they entered the river once again, nearly knocked Nojiko of her feat. She heard a scream from behind her, "_Kya!" _Nojiko turned around and was horrified to see that Silk had been nearly thrown overboard and the only reason she hadn't been sent flying into the fast moving waters below, was Konohamaru feeling a firm grip on her outstretched hand with one hand, whilst another was gripping onto the rudder.

Silk had both of her hands holding onto Konohamaru's own, "Hold on!" The young ninja shouted at her, "Don't let go!"

"As if I was actually going to let go!" The young swordswoman yelled back at him, despite the situation, she could feel a vein of annoyance pulse on her forehead, "You are the one that best not let go." If he did let go, she was going to haunt the living daylights out of him. Panic fluttered in her heart when she started feeling her grip on Konohamaru's hand slip and Konohamaru's own grip on her slip, '_The rain!' _They were both so soaked that she had now come to question how they were able to keep such a grip on the other.

Konohamaru seemed to notice the situation and was quick to yell out to the only person he knew who could stop a disaster from happening, "Boss!"

He need not have worried as not even before he had finished yelling out the nick-name he had for Naruto, a tendril of wood shot past him and wrapped itself around Silk before pulling her back aboard the ship. From the original tendril of wood, another branched out to wrap itself around Konohamaru and keep him steady and well planted on the ground.

"You called?" Naruto called out with a grin on his face, his bandaged hand outstretched from which the wood came from. He kept both tendrils of wood wrapped around the younger members of his crew in case another sudden movement knocked them off their feet and more importantly of the ship. Naruto looked back in front of him, "We're nearing the top!"

And not long after he had said those words, the ship cleared the peak of the mountain. The ship seemed to fly for a moment before gravity took control once more and brought the ship back down onto the river that led into the Grand Line.

Naruto took that moment to take a cursory look and get a first impression of what the people he had met called the most dangerous sea route in the world. At the moment, all he could see were clouds, so he wasn't particularly impressed at the moment.

He grinned, "Got to start from somewhere I suppose."

XxX

Nojiko stood towering over him, her hands firmly planted on her hips. Her gaze was firm and unrelenting and if he was a lesser man, it would have started unnerving him sometime ago, "Are you sure, you saw what you saw, Naruto-kun?"

"Positive." Came the simple reply from Naruto. To further accentuate his answer, he gave repeatedly nodded his head in a manner which he thought showed that he was absolutely positive and firm and sticking to his original story, "I saw a jolly roger that was wearing a straw hat. Don't know about you, but I only know of one pirate crew that goes around with such a jolly roger."

The beautiful blue-haired navigator of the ship continued to look down at Naruto where he sat before relenting. She started pacing nearby as she chewed her lip in thought, "We should have seen them by now then. Their ship can't be that much faster than ours."

Nojiko had estimated that at best, they were only less than a couple of hours behind Luffy's ship and thus, by extension, her sister. But ever since they crossed Reverse Mountain, they had yet to run into the Strawhats, despite the fact that they had been on the other end of a series of good wind.

'_Maybe we're not the only ones benefiting from the wind?'_ It wasn't a farfetched thought. Just because the winds had favoured them recently didn't mean that her sister's ship didn't benefit from the wind.

Naruto had a raised eyebrow as he looked at Nojiko pacing around. He had found himself, yet again, sitting in the shadow of the main mast. He was slowly starting to come to the conclusion that the shadow of the main mast and the mast itself was slowly becoming his seat. It wasn't as if he minded in the first place, "Stop worrying, Noji-chan. I'm sure Nami and company are fine." He said, trying to placate whatever worries the blue haired young woman was having.

She snapped her head in his direction, "And you know this how?"

He shrugged, "I don't, I just have a feeling." And most of the time, his feeling tended to be straight on whenever he had some kind of feeling, for better or for worse. He stifled, "Anyway, you said that the Log Pose locks onto the magnetic signature of an island right? Maybe their Log Pose," If they had one. Oh wow, now he felt himself starting to worry. The Strawhats _did _have a Log Pose right? If they didn't...he didn't want to think about, "...Locked onto a different island than the one ours locked onto." He suggested, trying his best to sound confident and in the know despite the surreal thought that just went through his head several moments ago and was still going through his head.

Nojiko gave him a suspicious look, "What was that?" She asked in a tentative manner. The way he had just continued on speaking after that slow start didn't at all fill her with any sort of optimism.

"What was what?"

She should have expected this. Honestly, she was rather disappointed in herself in the fact that she didn't see Naruto skirting the question with another question. She decided to drop the subject and continue worrying, "I suppose that's true, but..."

Naruto shot up to his feet. He had done enough sitting for today, it was time for him to do something actually captain-y, and by the looks of it, his first task was to calm the nerves of one of crew members.

**I can think of several fun ways you can calm her down.**

_**'**__Shut up Kurama.' _Sometimes, he didn't know who was worse, Kurama or Jiraiya. If he had known that the demon fox that inhabited within him had a lecherous mind, much like that of his late master, he would have done everything possible to keep the relations between them simply cordial and lukewarm. Discarding any thoughts that could be attributed to that of a lecher, Naruto placed a hand on Nojiko's shoulder, "Nami's fine. Stop worrying. Really, I don't understand the sudden worry. I mean, she had been going off on her own, stealing from pirates since a young age right? Why start worrying now?"

Nojiko appreciated the gesture that Naruto was trying to do, but immediately noted that he still had some work to do when it came to trying and counsel his crew mates. Nonetheless, she had to give him a C+ for effort given. She gave him a small smile, "I _always_ worried whenever she went off to steal things from pirates." She corrected the blonde captain extraordinaire from the far east, "But back then, it was in East Blue," The weakest of all the Blues and thus, by whatever measure people measured the strengths of the Blues, the safest as far as she was concerned, "This is the Grand Line. This is a completely different thing."

Naruto didn't understand, but he didn't make it show, "I suppose you have a point." From how everyone kept saying the Grand Line was the most dangerous place on Earth, the blonde ninja had been thorough underwhelmed from what he had seen for far. The only thing he and the crew had to be concerned about was the occasional giant sized fish of some kind. He decided to see if he could switch the topic to a different subject, try and give Nojiko some peace of mind by giving her something else to think about, "So where are we going to now?"

"Cactus Island." Nojiko was quick to reply. The Log Pose had locked onto the island not long after they had entered the Grand Line, "We shouldn't be too far out from the island. Maybe a few more hours travel."

"So smooth sailing then?" Naruto questioned. He had a lazy grin on his face, "Awesome." He couldn't wait to put some land underneath his sandaled feet.

Nojiko couldn't help but give a disbelieving stare in Naruto's direction, "You just had to say it, didn't you?" She wondered if Naruto was ever made aware of the dangers of tempting fate? Especially _here? _The weather was all kinds of screwy the moment they entered the Grand Line.

At first, it was pleasant and idyllic. Then out of the blue, she had decided to check their Log Pose only to notice that they were going completely in the wrong direction. She didn't understand how that had come to happen as the rudder and wheel had been firmly locked into place, yet it had happened.

'_And the weather.' _In all her twenty years of life, Nojiko had never been once made to witness such a quick change in seasons in a matter of hours. One minute, it would be snowing, another it would as it was the hottest day of summer and on and on it went. Sometimes, it went past the absurd and the ridiculous.

Naruto noticed the tone that Nojiko was speaking in and took a moment to take in his surroundings. He might have become more carefree and laid-back over the years but even he knew that sometimes, it was best not to tempt fate. He looked up to the sky and noticed that no thunder or storm clouds were forming or in the general vicinity, "Check the Log Pose, Noji-chan. I don't want us heading off in the wrong direction again."

The navigator had a smirk of amusement on her lips, "I did check and we are going in the right direction." Nonetheless, she had made sure that it would become habit to occasionally check the Log Pose every now and then, as a just in case the clouds and waves screwed them over again. Her thought process eventually made her voice something she had been wondering the moment she entered the Grand Line and had been made aware of the strange phenomena of the sea route, "I wonder why people call this place Paradise."

"I don't think this place is Paradise, Noji-chan." When he thought of Paradise, he thought of a land filled with all you can eat Ichiraku Ramen. The thought of that particular brand of ramen nearly brought him to his knees. He hadn't had any ramen in over half a year now. He needed to do something about that the first chance he got, "If it is, I shudder to think what Hell is like."

"You aren't shuddering." Nojiko pointed out with something of an amused smirk on her lips.

Naruto had his hands in his pocket when he riposted her with his own reply, "Because I'm not thinking about it, silly."

Konohamaru walked up to them. He had something of a look of amusement on his face and if that wasn't obvious enough, their was also a glimmer of the emotion in his brown eyes, "Sorry to interrupt you two flirting and everything, but yeah, land ahoy."

Nojiko's face was aflame and tried to say something, but all that came out was incoherent stutters. Konohamaru couldn't even make out any words, whatever words that Nojiko had wanted to convey. Naruto on the other hand merely _tsked, "_We weren't flirting Konohamaru." He said, turning his attention towards the prow of the ship, looking into the distance. He didn't even need to squint to see what looked like, "...Correct me if I'm wrong, but are those cactuses?"

"The correct plural is actually _cacti." _Konohamaru corrected as if that was common knowledge.

Nojiko had finally been able to regain her wits, "Actually, both of you are right. It's either cacti or cactuses, it really doesn't matter." She said quickly, trying to stop the two ninjas from getting into one of their ridiculous fights over nothing. She allowed herself to let out a breath of relief when she saw the two merely eye each other before looking back in the direction of the island with the strange cactuses-slash-cacti, "I suppose we now know why it's called Cactus Island."

XxX

(Cactus Island)

It was several hours after midday that the ship slowed down to a halt inside a dock. From what they could see, Naruto and company had made port in a rather sizeable town and they could see a large number of people living out their daily lives.

"So I wonder where we are." Silk said as she made her way to the gang-plank.

Konohamaru wasn't far behind in making his way off the ship, although he decided to use the traditional ninja way of not using anything that resembled a door or port of entrance and exit. In other words, he vaulted over the sides to land on the pier gently, "Don't know. Might as well ask some of the locals."

Not sooner after he had uttered those words, a rather official looking man approached them with a ledger in hand. He came to a stop in front of Konohamaru, "I'll need for you to pay the docking fee and also the name of the ship and the name of the captain of the ship." The man said, after clearing his throat.

Konohamaru looked up towards the bow of the ship where he could see Naruto looking down at them, "Boss, did you hear that?"

The blonde ninja gave a nod of the head in confirmation, "Yeah, take care of it for me."

The dark-haired teenager gave a nod of his head before turning his attention back to the port official and began to give them their details, "So how much exactly is this docking fee?" He asked, prepared to blow his gasket if it was something he thought to be rather unfeasible or just plain too much.

The official glanced at their ship and seemed to take in it's rough estimates and make, "A brig," He noted not long afterwards. At the speed which he showed, it was rather obvious he had been doing his job for a rather long time and that he was good at it, "That would be a hundred beli."

Konohamaru blinked, that wasn't much. He had been expecting for it to cost far more than that. They had a lot of money aboard their ship anyway, "Sure. Although we do have a problem."

The port official raised a curious eyebrow, "A problem? What kind of problem?" He finished off, his raised eyebrow dropping down and now his eyebrows narrowing in a suspicious manner.

The fifteen year old chuunin was quick to thumb in the direction of the ship before any misunderstandings were made, "Our ship doesn't actually have a name." That was really something they had to get around to sorting out at some point sooner rather than later. Maybe they would do so whilst waiting for the Log Pose to reset.

"A ship without a name?" The port official said, "That's rather strange."

Konohamaru nodded his head, "And our captain's name is Uzumaki Naruto."

The port official opened up his ledger and pulled out a pen from a pocket. He then began to scribble down into the ledger, mouthing out the name that he was given, "U-zu-ma-ki Na-ru..." His voice suddenly trailed off as his eyes slowly started widening. He slowly raised his head to look up at the bow of the ship were Naruto was still located and looking down at them.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow in curiosity from the look. He wasn't the only one to do so, as Konohamaru and Silk shared the same look as him as they looked at the official, "Yes, can I help you?" He asked, rather confused as to the look he was receiving.

A shaky hand, holding a pen that found itself being dropped to the ground because of a loose grip pointed in his direction, "You are Uzumaki Naruto." He said, "The Calamity."

Naruto nodded, "The one and only." He confirmed whilst nodding his head. It wasn't until the words rang out in his head did he realise the problem, "Oh." He had forgotten that he was now a wanted person with a bounty on his head. It wasn't as if he was unaccustomed to the knowledge of bounties, it was just that he had forgotten that he was in a place were bounties probably meant something more than they did back in the Elemental Nations.

When a ninja was listed in the Bingo Books with a bounty on his head, sure, he had to worry about bounty hunters and ninjas from other villages wanting to cash in on the worth on his head. But that was simply it. When it came to his wider life, the bounty didn't mean much. He could go into any town, country and the likes without needing to worry about anything.

But this far from home, he was a fugitive of the current police force of the world. That probably meant a whole lot more to places such as this.

The port official then pointed to Konohamaru after staring at him for a few more moments, "And you the 'Devil Monkey' Sarutobi Konohamaru."

Silk stepped up, trying to pre-emptively stop a situation from arising and escalating, "We can leave, if you don't want us around." Well, they couldn't leave, but they would go somewhere else on the island and just wait out the time until the Log Pose reset and locked onto their next destination.

"Leave!?" The man sounded incredulous, "Why would you want to leave?"

"Because we are wanted by the Wold Government and the Marines?" Naruto suggested as an answer. He was not going to say pirate. He was not a pirate. They were not pirates. They were adventurers.

The man started ushering them into their town, "Please, forget about the whole docking fee and everything else. Come, enjoy your stay in Whiskey Peak!"

Konohamaru was about as confused as the rest of his crew mates, "You _want_ us to stay?" He asked, "Despite the fact that we are wanted men?" Well, two of them anyway.

"Pirates are the heroes of the sea!" The port official declared loudly. Apparently, that declaration stopped everyone within hearing range as they suddenly turned to look in the direction of the dock. Whispers of 'Pirates?' And, 'Pirates are in town?' Along with, 'The brave warriors of the sea?' Could be heard being chattered about in the distance.

"_Not _pirates." Naruto stressed, "We are adventurous. There's a difference." Although Naruto's declaration was ignored, he was perturbed by the fact that people were rushing to the docks to see the supposed pirates and were now eagerly cheering at them. From somewhere, banners proclaiming to welcome the pirates into Whiskey Peak had been unfurled from somewhere, "I don't even understand."

The loud noise and cheering had attracted the attention of Nojiko who came up from underneath the deck. She made her way towards the bow of the ship and was met with a rather strange sight of people waving banners welcoming pirates and cheering. She could even hear some music coming from somewhere, "What's going on?"

Naruto's eyes drifted in her direction before answering her with a shrug, "I don't know. These people think we are pirates." He finished off by pointing in the direction of the cheering crowd.

"We aren't though."

"That's what _I_ said."

A frown marred her delicate features, "Even if we were, why are they cheering for us?" Last she checked, pirates were supposed to be feared. Rightly so by the indication of Arlong and his crew. The cheering completely and utterly confused her.

It was the port official who answered her with a big smile on his face, "You maybe a little shocked about this, but this is Whiskey Peak. A town of liquor and music." He had a smile on his face, "Hospitality is our middle name. That and the fact that the people of this town enjoy being entreated with the tales and adventures of brave people like you."

Konohamaru simply took this all in with a blank expression before giving a nod of his head, "Boss, I think we are going to like this place."

XxX

A middle aged man with long red hair with a crown atop it stood on one of the railings of the ship in something that could only be thought of a 'cool' kneeling pose, "Now then, we ask that you leave us here."

Beside him, posed in the same manner as him was a young woman with long blue hair tied up into a high ponytail, "Thank you for taking us here, my honeys!" She declared, "If fate allows us, let us meet again!"

Both of them turned to look at the assembled group of people in front of them who were staring at them, "Bye bye, baby!" And with that, both of them leapt of the ship and swam away into the distance.

"Huh...", The action was so sudden that it took Nami by surprise. She just looked at where the two people had been previously standing before it clicked, "They're gone. Just what was up with those two anyway?"

A good question, but Luffy didn't want to hear It. Instead, he wanted for preparations to be made for them to be ready to come into port when they reached their very first island of the Grand Line, "Forget about them! Prepare to land!"

"There's a river right up ahead." Sanji observed as he looked towards the island that had strange cactus shaped mountain, complete with the pricks as well, "Seems like we can dock in land."

A very real and frightening thought came into Usopp's mind as the island shrouded in what looked like to be fog became nearer and nearer. As if the whole shrouded in fog thing wasn't foreboding enough to set off alarms in his head, "Y-You don't think there would be monsters on the island do you?"

Sanji made sure that he didn't give any false hopes to the resident marksman, "Considering this is the Grand Line, I suppose anything is possible." Usopp did not appreciate the candour that Sanji was giving him.

Luffy, as always didn't particularly care and actually found the prospect rather exciting, "Well, we can always run away if that's the case."

It was at this point that Nami stepped in to make sure that they knew what exactly they were in for when it came to the Grand Line and navigating through it, "Hold it right there. Don't forget that we have to stay on the island for a certain amount of time."

"Why?"

Nami brought up the Log Pose tied around her lift wrist and tapped at it, "The Log Pose has to register the magnetic field of the island before we can move on. And not only that, but the recording time varies for each island. Some take a few hours and others take a few days."

That was something that Usopp wasn't particularly pleased to hear, "T-Then, if we came across a horrible monster island, that means we have to stay on the island for several days until it resets."

Nami's arms were crossed over her chest, "That's right."

Luffy had a grin on his face despite Usopp's worries, "Well, we'll deal with it, when it happens. So let's just go already." He leaned back on his seat, "It would be weird not to go in when there's a river right in front of us."

Nami wasn't convinced, "For you maybe." She said, hands on hips.

Zoro came up beside her, "No. He's right. There's no use worrying about it, so let's just go already."

Sanji had a grin on his face and was giving a thumbs up in the direction of Nami, "I'll protect you, Nami-chan!"

Usopp wasn't at all liking the idea of entering an unknown island that might as well have monsters on it. The idea was so entertaining that he found himself getting sick, "Ah guys, I think I've developed a cant-enter-islands-disease." Unfortunately for him, no one was really listening to his opinion and his new sudden sickness.

Nami gave up with a sigh, "Alright, let's go on then."

"Be prepared for a fight or to run at any moments time." Luffy suggested. As the Going Merry trudged down the river, Luffy managed to catch something on the wind. He had to strain his ears to make sure that he was actually hearing something instead of his ears playing tricks on him, "I can hear people, but this fog is too thick to see anything."

Usopp jumped at that, "People!? You sure it's people!?" He could handle people. It was the monsters that he was worried about.

The fog then started to thin around them, allowing them to finally be able to see their surroundings. What was in front of the Going Merry was a town and the crew was rather surprised at the reception they were seeing.

"Welcome pirates!"

"Welcome to our town!"

"Welcome to the Grand Line!"

The entire reception was rather confusing to say the least. Something Usopp voiced out, "There's no monsters," Which was good as far as he was concerned. So very good, "But there seems to be people greeting us." Which was just confusing.

Sanji also didn't understand the reception and he felt that if his gritted his teeth for any longer, he would bite through his cigarette, "What's going on..."

People were waving and some were even playing music on the either banks of the river. They could even see some banners being waved in the air, "Long live the brave heroes of the sea!"

Some fireworks went off somewhere.

Something was quick to catch Sanji's eyes, "There's some lovely ladies as well!" He declared happily when he saw a group of young women cheering them on.

Usopp observed the people cheering somewhat sceptically before deciding to just enjoy the show, "What a warm welcome. Looks like pirates are really peoples heroes." And here he thought that all the stories he had made up were complete and utter bull.

The Going Merry eventually made port and the crew found themselves being greeted by a tall man with long, curly blonde hair and a red nose. He was dressed in a gentleman suit that had the number '8' on the tips of his collars. Strangely, he was holding a saxophone in hand.

"Welg-." He stopped for a moment to clear his throat and set his tone, "Welcome . My name is Igarappoi. You maybe a little shocked by the welcome, but this is Whiskey Peak. The town of music and liquor." He took a moment for breath, "Hospitality is our middle name."

He smiled at them amicably, "If it's fine liquor you want, we have an oceans worth. So please, I cordially invite you to our banquet. And I hope that you may entreat us with tales of your adventures."

Luffy heard what the mayor of the town had said, but only one thing had been on his mind the entire time, "This man's hair...too curly."

The entire setting didn't somehow sit right with Zoro. Ever since he met those two idiots that went by the names of Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 something had been eating at him from the back of his mind. He just couldn't remember what. It was like it was at the tip of his mind, but he just couldn't bring it to the front.

He and Nami watched with sweat drops on his brow as Sanji, Luffy and Usopp gladly accepted the offer that was given to them by the town mayor, '_The idiot trio_.' Nami thought as she looked at the three males as they entered the town, arms over each others shoulder. She then noticed something that she had missed due to the entire weird setting they had found themselves in, "Hey, isn't that Naruto's ship?" She asked Zoro, the only other person that didn't charge head first in to take in the town's hospitality.

Zoro turned his head to where Nami was pointing and blinked, "Huh, that is Naruto's ship." He was surprised he had completely and utterly missed that black and orange monstrosity. It was rather distinct looking, "So they are here too?"

"I wonder if they got the same treatment as us." Nami mused absentmindedly. She then made her way towards the town mayor and asked him a question that was on her mind, "How long will it take for the Log Pose to reset?"

"Hm?" The mayor blinked as he looked down at her. He then turned his attention to the Log Pose that she was indicating. He smiled at her, "Oh please set aside such matters for now and focus on resting from the journey." He put an arm around her and began to lead her somewhere, "Everyone, it seems we shall need extra food. Who knew that we would be blessed with two crews of adventurous in one day?"

The group was led towards a very lively inn were the sounds of raucous laughter and cheering and loud music could be heard _before_ they had even come onto the street that the inn was located at. When Luffy came to the door of the inn, he kicked it down as his way of entering the place of business, "Food!" He yelled, "Bring me everything you have!"

The music and the cheering and the laughter stopped for a moment to look at the idiot that had kicked the door down, "What the hell, Luffy?" Naruto questioned when he saw the familiar strawhat wearing pirate. He lowered the pitcher of beer he had in his hand to the table, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Luffy blinked when he saw the person who addressed him. A large, silly grin came across his face, "Naruto!"

Sanji also saw two other people he recognised, but these people were more to his liking. In other words, they were of the female variety, "Nojiko-chan! Silk-chan!" He cried out as he literally skipped his way towards the two girls, "How I've missed you so!"

"Oh god, not him again." Nojiko mumbled as she saw the advancing Strawhat pirate. Sanji tried to leap into a hug, but Nojiko moved aside and allowed him to fly right past her and crash into a nearby table and the people sitting around it. Instead of checking up on him, she made her way towards her younger sister, "How did we get here in front of you? I'm pretty sure you left Loguetown before us. Our ship can't be that much faster than yours." She finished off as she opened her arms for a hug.

Nami returned the feeling with a smile on her face, "You sure you didn't leave before us instead?" She asked as they let go of the hug.

"Pretty sure." The blue-haired navigator said with a firm nod of the head, "Naruto saw your ship clear Reverse Mountain way before we entered that ridiculous river. I thought we would be at best, a couple of hours behind you, but we didn't see any sort of inkling of where you guys went off too."

Nami couldn't help but laugh, "We sort of ran into some trouble the moment we came down Reverse Mountain."

"What sort of trouble?"

Nami led her older sister towards a table, "A ridiculous huge whale kind of trouble." Her lips then formed a sly grin, "So what's this about Naruto-_kun?" _

Nojiko couldn't help but be thankful to the fact that her cheeks were already flushed from the drinking she had been doing other wise, it would have been really obvious that she had blushed. Blushed hard, that is, "There's nothing wrong about that. We are just friends."

Nami had a hard time believing that, "Sure you are."

Her sister shot her a look, "Hey, I'm not the one that kissed him."

Seeing where this would go, she decided to change the subject. She looked at her sister intently, "Exactly what are you doing here, Nojiko?"

Nojiko had a lazy smile on her lips, "Well, I can't be the only one sitting back at home watching the grass grow whilst my little sister has all the fun and sees the world, you know? That's not exactly fun." That and the fact that she couldn't, wouldn't be able to live with herself if some harm came to Nami whilst she's adventuring and her doing nothing but growing tangerines back home in Commi Island. That and a certain blonde idiot.

Said blonde idiot found himself transfixed watching Luffy gouge himself with plate after plate of food without stop. In fact, he wanted to look away at the somewhat disgusting act, but the scene in front of him was too transfixing to even do that, '_...Is that how people see me when I ate ramen?' _If it was, he had a lot of people to apologise too, "Luffy, calm down with the eating. You are going to burst open your stomach." He was made of rubber, it was a possibility. Luffy tried to say something, but what came out was only bits and pieces of food. Naruto sighed, "Never mind. Just keep on doing whatever you're doings."

XxX

(Several Hours Later)

Long after the sun had gone down, the partying had finally come to a halt, everybody else was passed out on the inn floor. Naruto popped open a blue eye, gave a small yawn before rising to his feet. He stretched out some limbs before taking a look around.

He noticed Sanji, Usopp, Konohamaru, Silk, Nojiko passed out here and there on the inn floor or tables with smiles on their faces. He sweat dropped when he saw the passed out form of Luffy. He knew Luffy was a glutton, but what he was seeing right now could be considered just plain ridiculous.

The teenage pirate captain's form was completely and utterly bloated, "I'm surprised he didn't burst." He muttered quietly to himself before noticing something that he had missed before. He gave a look over of the place once more, "The hell? Where are Zoro and Nami-chan?" Actually, where the hell were the villagers? Naruto was pretty sure many of them had also passed out from the constant drinking they had been doing since the moment they had entered the town.

Now Naruto wasn't a particularly paranoid person, but considering the line of work he involved himself in, he couldn't help but note that something about his current circumstances was very much of the suspicious nature.

In fact, the sudden disappearances of the town folks that had been parting with him only further added fuel to the fire of paranoia that had been burning up inside him the moment they entered the town. Really, what sort of town openly and welcomed pirates into their loving arms? Back in the Elemental Nations, pirates were feared and hated with good reason.

He didn't know how things worked this part of the world, but as far as he was concerned, pirates were still pirates...well, Luffy and company didn't actually count. They were more of an after school club than anything else.

Because of that, during his entire drinking, he had been making sure that he used his chakra to make his usually passive Chiyu no Chikara (Healing Power) be more active in washing away the alcohol in his system. He had just pretended to be flat out drunk and pass out when everyone else was doing it.

He created a shadow clone to look over the others whilst he made his way outside to check up on his surroundings and maybe find out where Nami and Zoro were.

It didn't actually take as long as Naruto thought for Naruto to come across Zoro. He merely followed the sounds of disturbances that were happening in town, "He seems to be having the time of his life." Naruto observed as Zoro climbed up a building with a silly grin on his face, right after knocking out a nun and a kid who had both tried to either kill him or disfigure him.

To further accentuate how much of a good time Zoro was having, he kicked over the ladder that he had been using to the ground. A ladder which had been, at the time, being used by villagers to climb up the building and follow Zoro, all the while smiling in delight.

Now any day of the week, Naruto would have been outraged at the use of violence against civilians which the likes Zoro was using against the people that had fed them and drank with them over the past few hours. Of course, this entire feeling was completely and utterly defeated when he noted that every villager in town was holding some kind of weapon and were clearly going after Zoro with intent to harm or kill.

There was something he was missing here, but he just didn't know what...so Naruto decided to simply observe from his vantage point and watch the show in progress.

Still though, the entire situation posed the question as to whether he should jump in and join in on the fun or grab one of the towns folk and get some answers as to why they are trying to kill them after partying with them for most of the night. The entire situation was utterly confusing as far as Naruto was concerned.

"Should I or should I not?" That was the question for the day. It wasn't as if he had come across a situation that would allow him to punch someone square in the face for quite a while now. The last time he got into a fight, that was Smoker, but he didn't count. The man could turn himself into smoke and jutsus didn't give the same level of satisfaction one got when punching someone in the face.

Still debating on whether he should join in on Zoro's fun, he continued to watch the swordsman as he continued to have the time of his life. He almost laughed out loud when he saw Zoro cut a hole in the roof of a building for several of the towns folk to fall through when they leapt at him.

Zoro's first spot of bother was when a large, dark skinned woman was able to come up behind him, holding a ladder and swing it at him. The swordsman was able to dodge quickly enough to avoid being hit by the ladder, but he ended up getting pinned down by the large woman.

The woman raised a fist into the sky and from his distance and in the moonlight, Naruto could see the veins bulge out from the arm as she quickly brought it down to punch Zoro square in the face. Naruto winced, "Ouch..." The punch was hard enough to crack the ground underneath Zoro's head and also cause the swordsman to squirt out blood.

Now Naruto felt compelled to help the man, just to make sure that he was still alive. Of course that was until Zoro seemed to get up and turn the tables on the woman as he held her head in a vice like grip which she couldn't pry herself away from.

"M-Miss Monday!?" The various towns folk that were being made witness to the scene cried out in surprise and shock.

Igarappoi had the same look of shock as the rest of his towns people, "What!?"

Zoro had a devilish look grin on his face as he continued to hold his grip on Miss Monday's face, the muscle woman herself on her knees as she tried her best to make him release her head, "What's wrong?" Zoro asked, "What happened to all that superhuman strength of yours?"

Miss Monday didn't answer. Instead, she started frothing at the mouth before going limp and passing out, falling to the ground spread out, angel style.

"AH!" The towns people cried out, "He beat Miss Monday!"

Zoro had some blood dripping down from the wound he had received on his forehead. He licked away some of it as he looked at the towns people, "Shall we continue Baroque Works? A fight is no mere game, you know?"

Naruto had a squinty eyed look on his face, '_Baroque Works? What the hell is that?' _The town was called Whiskey Peak wasn't it? Where did Baroque Works come from?

Igarappoi had a strained look on his face, "...I got it!" He suddenly declared, his teeth gritted together, "That wanted poster must be wrong! That wanted poster must be a mistake on the Marines part."

Mr. 9 who had been made witness to the same sight as everybody else couldn't help but agree with the man, "Of course, I can certainly understand if he was the one worth 20 million beli!"

Miss Wednesday was also in attendance and shared similar looks as everybody else, "I see. Then let us act accordingly. I thought it was strange that the grinning idiot back there was worth 20 million." Wasn't there also another pirate that was worth even more than this one? 45 million beli if she remembered correctly. That must have been another mistake on the Marines part. She had seen the 45 million beli man and he might as well have been the same kind of grinning idiot like the one in the Strawhat.

Igarappoi looked up at where Zoro stood, Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 standing either side of him, "How disgraceful. To be beaten to this state by a single, lone pirate swordsman. As proud members of Baroque Works entrusted especially by the boss to watch over this town, we have a matter of responsibility to worry about." He said, all the while Zoro was looking down at them with a confident smirk on his face.

Igarappoi brought out the saxophone that he had been carrying around and brought it to his lips. Zoro watched with a curious eyebrow quirked up before he had to quickly move least he found himself drilled full of holes. Why? Because it turned out the saxophone also doubled as a machine gun.

"Let's go Miss Wednesday!" Mr. 9 shouted out as he showed of his physical and acrobatic prowess by jumping up to the roofs where Zoro was located.

Miss Wednesday agreed with his sentiment and also moved into action, calling out someone called 'Carue' with a whistle, where a large, yellow duck with black tipped wings and tail feathers made it's appearance. On it's head was a blue chullo with white patterning.

"Come give me a hand, Carue!" Miss Wednesday asked of the duck. Only for the duck to quack and raise a wing. That seemed to annoy the blue haired woman, "Not literally!" She snapped at the duck before finally getting onto her original objective of mounting said duck. She took hold of the reins, "Now, show me that famous speed of yours that can even outrun a leopard." The duck promptyl quacked and sat down, "Who told you to sit down!?"

Naruto and Zoro both shared a sweat drop at the scene from their differing vantage points. Naruto scratched at his scalp, "I suppose they would make an excellent comedy duo..." Because what he was seeing right now seemed like something out of a sitcom, "I should probably make sure that the others get back to the ship." He created a shadow clone that promptly dispelled after it's creation, notifying the clone that was with his own crew and the rest of the Strawhats.

"I wonder if you can keep up with my acrobatic finesse?" Mr. 9 suddenly said as he appeared from one of the church towers. He somersaulted down the tower repeatedly, in his hands two bats that he used to attack Zoro who blocked the attack with his sword, "Nekketsu Nine Koujo Bat (Hot-Blooded Gutsy Bat)!"

Mr. 9 laughed as he somersaulted over Zoro, preparing to attack again, "Haha! These are metal bats! Becareful, either wise your swords will get chipped!" He landed behind Zoro and blinked when Zoro sheathed one of his swords, "Hm? What's wrong, too scared to move?" He asked, a confident looking grin on his face.

He suddenly found himself having to dodge a thrust from Zoro's one sword before having to quickly use his bats to block repeated thrust from Zoro's blade. Zoro had a placid look of enjoyment on his face as he continued and repeatedly tried to stab the crown wearing man, "What's wrong? What happened to all that acrobatic finesse from before?"

The speed at which Mr. 9 reacted to the taunt would have surprised Zoro if it wasn't for the fact that by now, he had come not to expect much from anyone here, "Oh, I'll show you alright! Just make sure to keep your eyes open!" Mr. 9 said as he back flipped away from Zoro's thrust. Backflipped right of the edge of the building.

"Ha," Zoro sighed as he turned around, "Isn't there anyone the tiniest bit more competent?" He asked as he looked around. He then noticed someone he hadn't noticed before simply watching the proceedings, "Naruto? You are awake?"

Naruto waved a lazy hand in greeting, "I'm not stupid enough to drink myself silly in a strange place like this."

Zoro had a smile on his face that Naruto did not like, "I wouldn't have guessed."

Naruto squinted his eyes at the swordsman before making his way to him via Shunshin. He had planned on making Zoro jump by randomly appearing beside him, but the man ran a tight ship when it concerned to his body, "So what exactly is going on? Why the hell are you beating the crap out of the towns people?"

"Because these entire town is filled with bounty hunters."

Naruto blinked, "The entire town? Huh, I suppose that makes sense." Making sense as in the fact that it explained their whole strange attitude when it comes to pirates. In fact, he couldn't help but coming to find himself rather impressed by the whole modus operandi of the entire town. Feast and drink the pirates until they are dead drunk and passed out and then slit their throats for some easy money.

...Well easy money until they came along that was.

Miss Wednesday soon appeared, standing on the back of her duck Carue. She found herself somewhat surprised to see Naruto standing next to the swordsman that had been running around causing mayhem but it didn't matter. She was going to end this very soon, "If you want someone competent, then look no further Mr. Bushido!" She raised her hands and looked down at the two males from atop her duck, "Now...gaze deeply at my body."

Zoro raised an eyebrow in confusion whilst Naruto did what was asked for him, staring intently at her body, "Sure, alright. No problem. If you say I can stare, I'll stare." She had asked him to stare at her body and he was staring. It wasn't as if he was being a pervert here. She had _asked _him too. It would be ungentlemanly of him to just ignore such a request by such a beautiful young woman.

The she started dancing, "Miwaku Memai Dance (Captivating Dance of Dizziness)!" And it was officially one of the best nights in Naruto's life.

Naruto had a lecherous grin on his face, "Awesome...just awesome. Simply superb." So superb that he started and clapping. At this moment in time, he really wished that he had a Sharingan, just so he could burn what he seeing right in front of him into his memory for the rest of his life. He stopped clapping when he heard Zoro grunt before a dull thud of someone falling to their knees, "Zoro? What the hell? Get up! You are missing something awesome here!" If Konohamaru was here, he would clearly enjoy the very same sight that he was seeing right in front of him.

Having been somewhat surprised by the enthusiastic clapping from the blonde, Miss Wednesday was quick to latch onto the distraction that was in front of her by dropping down to sit on Carue's back whilst drawing out a sharpened blade attached to a ring on her pinky and started spinning it, "Let's go Carue! Kujakku Slasher (Peacock Slasher)!" The duck quacked and charged right at Naruto and Zoro, only for it to miss them completely and run past them. Miss Wednesday smack the back of the head of her mount, "You are going the wrong way."

Naruto and Zoro had several drops of sweat on the back of their heads as they watched the woman and duck partnership run of into the distance. The blonde ninja of the two scratched his chin, "You know, I'm starting to doubt that this place is the most dangerous place on earth."

Zoro had an annoyed look on his face, "I feel embarrassed at myself for having to fight these losers."

"Igarappappa!"

Zoro was quick to move away from where stood when a burst of gunfire from the mayor. He turned towards Naruto, never having seen him move to avoid the gunfire only to be confused when he saw what looked like to be the remains of a barrel. He wasn't given much time to think about things before having to escape to the street level through the hole he created from earlier.

The mayor lowered his saxophone as he looked down at Zoro running down the street with the moon behind him, giving him a rather ominous look, "Allow me to show you, the terror of my true strength."

Zoro had taken cover behind a wall, "That shotgun of his is a real problem. How can I close the gap to go in for the close attack?"

"_Daaah!" _Mr. 9 yelled out suddenly as he appeared from a pile of rubble, all scuffed up and bloody, "How dare you harm me to this extent!?" He demanded, holding his two bats in his hands, "I shan't forgive you!"

"But you hurt yourself on your own..."

Mr. 9 ignored that and pointed one of his bats in Zoro's direction, "Kattobase Shikomi Bat (Hidden Home-Run Bat)!" The tip of Mr.9's bat shot out and wrapped itself around his arm, "Haha, I've sealed up one your arms!"

The mayor soon appeared atop one of the town's buildings, looking down at Zoro, "There you are."

Zoro tried to cut it off the wire but noticed that it wasn't happening. Mr. 9 laughed, "Now Mr. 8!" He called out in the direction of the mayor, "Finish him off. Haha, I won't let you escape!"

"Exactly!" Miss Wednesday said as she reappeared, holding a dagger to the bloated figure of Luffy, still sleeping, "Move even a single finger and consider your precious friend's life forfeit."

Mr. 9 congratulated Miss Wednesday on taking Luffy hostage. Zoro had a more annoyed look more than ever, '_You idiot! The least you could have done was wake up before being taken hostage!' _Why did he follow this guy again? Ah yes, because he had made a vow of it on his honour. How he wished he could take it back right about now.

"Prepare to fire!" Mr. 8 pulled at the tie around his neck which somehow triggered for several gun barrels to appear from his hair, Preparation complete!" He finished off as he readied his guns to fire. He pulled at his tie, "Igarappappa!"

Zoro was quick to think of a way out of his predicament and went to pull on the rope on his arm so that he could pull Mr. 9 into the path of the bullets. He found himself somewhat surprised when he saw said man already flying in the air to intercept the bullets for him, which he did before swinging the man in the direction of Miss Wednesday and Carue, knocking them out.

"You can thank me later." Naruto suddenly said, appearing from nowhere, dragging behind him Mr. 8.

Zoro didn't need to think long on what he had to thank Naruto about, "You are the one that threw that Mr. 9 guy, didn't you?"

Naruto had a smile on his face, "Threw?...Yeah, let's go with that." He wasn't about to tell Zoro that he used something that had been used on him once before, way back when he was starting out as a genin. By his very own sensei at that. He let go of Mr. 8 who's face hit the ground unceremoniously, "Yeah, I think this is our victory."

Zoro gave a look in Naruto's direction, "_Our_ victory? You mean, _my _victory. You didn't even do a single thing."

"Hey, I saved your life dammit!"

"I was already going to use that Mr. 9 idiot as a shield before you threw him!"

XxX

(With Konohamaru)

Honestly, now that he thought about it, he should have known better than to be entirely trusting of a place that hosted feasts and parties for pirates. If they had actually gotten themselves killed because of something like that, man, his grandfather would tear him a new one in the after life.

Making his way back into the town after dropping off the still out cold Silk and Nojiko at their ship, Konohamaru was on a mission to find Naruto and get the full specifics of what exactly was going on in this town. His clone hadn't been forthcoming with the information apart from telling him that the entire town was gunning after Zoro armed to the teeth and by whatever logic it had used, them going after Zoro also equally meant they would soon come after them.

"_Gyaaaah!" _

Konohamaru was still rather inebriated from all the drinking he had done. The boss' clone could only do so much when it came to the alcohol in his system, but whether he was drunk or not, he could recognise a scream from anywhere.

And the screams that he had heard were rather close-by. He decided to go and check it out. It didn't take him long to find the source of the screams, belonging to some of the towns people by the looks of it.

There was a group of them, along with what looked like to be a vulture wearing an aviator hat and glasses along with an otter in a onesie.

Standing across from the group were two people. One of them had dark skin and messy black hair and was somehow wearing sunglasses in the dead of night. He wore a brown trench coat that had the number 5 on the left breast and a pink staff.

The other person was a woman with short blonde hair and bright green eyes. She wore a yellow and orange hat as well as a short yellow dress with a yellow lemon pattern and lemon earrings. She finished off her attire with white boots. She also happened to be carrying a bright green parasol with blue stripes over her shoulder.

"Even though it's the dead of night right now, this town is quite rowdy." The woman said, her tone rather cheerful.

"Hmph. I can't believe we were ordered all the way out here to the front lines."

The group of towns folk were surprised by their sudden appearance before getting their act together, "Wha? Who are you people?" They asked. The couple didn't reply before the towns people pulled out guns and pointed it at them, "We said, who are you people!"

Strangely enough, the vulture and otter both had their mouths opened in surprise. It was the man who answered first, "Mr. 5."

The woman soon answered not long after, "Miss Valentine."

XxX

(With Naruto &amp; Zoro)

"Down you go." Zoro said as he unceremoniously dropped Miss Monday and a group of other bounty hunters to the streets below before clapping his hands together. The group crashed onto the ground in a pile, "There, that takes care of the cleaning up." He took a seat on the roof of the building he had just thrown people off and pulled out a bottle of liquor, "Ah, now everything's all quiet again."

Naruto watched the entire thing with his hands in his pockets, "I can't say they deserved It, but did you really have to throw them off the roof like that?" The ass kicking that Zoro had given them was enough to injure the lot of them for quiet a while. What he just did then was just insult to injury.

"Just returning the courtesy."

Naruto sweat-dropped, "What courtesy?"

Konohamaru soon appeared to join Naruto and Zoro on the roof, "Hey boss, Silk and Nojiko-neesan are both on the ship." And the ship itself was ready to row out the moment things went south. He might have been young and at the moment, drunk, but never could it be said that when the time called for it, Sarutobi Konohamaru did not take his job as a ninja seriously.

"Good job Konohamaru." Naruto looked around, "I can sense someone new in the area. Did you meet someone?"

"Ah, it's probably these two weirdos I saw earlier." Konohamaru replied with a shrug.

Down below on the street, Mr. 8 tried to rise to his feet, '_I can't die here. I still have an important mission to do.' _

Two shadows loomed over him the struggling Mr. 8, "Beaten by a lone swordsman. How embarrassing." Mr. 5 said condescendingly.

Mr. 8 was shocked at the sound of the voice, but was quick to recognise it as he shot his head up to see if who he was hearing was actually who he was. And indeed it was, "Mr. 5!? Miss Valentine!?" From above, Naruto, Zoro and Konohamaru watched what was happening down below them with mild curiosity.

"Are you idiots just playing around?" Mr. 5 asked, looking down at Mr. 8 and the others.

Miss Valentine laughed, "Kyahaha! You can't expect them to be as capable as we are."

"Did you just come to laugh at us?" The mayor asked.

"That's one reason." Mr. 5 said flippantly.

"Kyahaha! We obviously came for business."

Mr. 9 slowly rose from the ground despite his injuries, "Ha, with you two here. That pesky swordsman will stand no chance." He said, attracting the attention of the two Baroque Works agents.

The blue haired Miss Wednesday was of the same mind, "Yes, so please, crush that troublesome swordsman!"

Mr. 5 looked confused for a moment before sneering at them, "Stop joking around." Whatever he said, seemed to alert two of the three downed Baroque Works agents, "You think _we_ are your backups?"

"You think we would be ordered all the way out here to the edge of the Grand Line? Just to help you crush a pesky swordsman? Kyahaha!"

Mr. 9 looked at them confused, blood running down from his nose, "If not, then what are you doing here?"

"Don't you have a hunch or anything?" Mr. 5 asked, "Someone's committed a crime so severe that it's been warranted for us to come all the way out here."

Miss Valentine was the one to speak afterwards, "The boss' direct words were my secret has been found out. Now we don't know what that secret is..."

"Our organisation creed is 'secrecy'," Mr. 5 began, "No-one is to pry into the real identities of our members. Thus, it's inexcusable for our boss' real identity to be known."

Miss Valentine had a smile and a cheery expression on her face, despite the serious subject of the matter they were talking about, "Thus, after some investigation, it seems an agent of a certain kingdom has infiltrated Baroque Works."

Mr. 9's eyes were widened. He quickly shot to his feet, "Wait, wait, wait! I know I were a crown and all, but I'm not really a king."

"We know It's not you." Miss Valentine deadpanned in return.

From beside the serious looking Miss Wednesday, Carue quacked. On his knees, Mr. 8 was sweating bullets, '_They've found out about everything! Is this the end?'_

Still looking down on the entire scene from their rooftops seat, Zoro wiped away some liquor that was running down his chin, "Not good. Luffy's caught between them."

Naruto looked at him strangely, "Is that all you have to say? Come on, listen to this stuff! It's like a primetime drama show." He was anxiously waiting to know who exactly this spy was. It had to be one of the three people with the weird names that they had beat up and since it wasn't the idiot with the crown, it was now between the idiot with the silly hair and the really hot woman with the stupid duck.

Konohamaru sweat-dropped, "Boss, you have your priorities mixed up."

Naruto waved him off, "I don't have priorities at the moment."

Mr. 5 had a confident look about him as he cocked his head to the side, his hands tucked into his pockets, "The spy we are talking about, is the Alabasta Kingdom's-."

'_I won't let you harm her!', _Mr. 8 shot to his feet rather quickly, pulling on his tie once more to fire his guns, "Die, Igarappappa!"

Naruto jaw was hanging loose, "No way! The mayor was the spy!?" He certainly didn't look or act like a spy, nor did he have the aura of one, "Or maybe he was just that good at his job that I couldn't tell?" If so, Naruto felt like applauding the man. He was damn well good at his job by the looks of it.

'_I swear it on my honour as the head of Alabasta's Royal Guards!' _Mr. 8 thought as he watched the resulting explosion of his attack.

"Igaram!" Miss Wednesday cried out as she pushed the confused Mr. 9 out of the way to go towards the now revealed captain of Alabasta's Royal Guards.

Igaram quickly turned around to face the advancing Miss Wednesday, "Please run away!"

Miss Valentine suddenly dropped down from above, "How futile. Kyahaha!" She laughed as she smashed a kick to the head of Miss Wednesday, breaking the piece of jewellery that kept Miss Wednesday hair done up into a pony tail, allowing her long hair to fall loosely.

Miss Wednesday tried to retaliate but Miss Valentine ended up floating away, her parasol opened all the while, whilst laughing. Her attention was suddenly taken by the cry of pain of Igaram and an explosion. She turned around to see the man falling down to his knees and then head first into the ground, "Igaram? Igaram!?"

"The name of the spy," Mr. 5 said as the smoke from Igaram's attack shrouded his form, leaving only his silhouette. In front of his silhouette, Miss Valentine landed after falling back down to the ground, "Is Igaram, the Head of the Alabasta Kingdom's Royal Guards and the second spy is," The smoke cleared away to reveal Mr. 5 holding up a picture of Miss Wednesday, "Is none other than the Alabasta Kingdom's princess herself, Nefertari Vivi!"

Mr. 9 bowed down low, to the point that he might as well have been procrastinating himself on the ground, "Y-You were a princess, Miss Wednesday!?" He asked.

"Now is not the time for this, Mr. 9!" The now revealed Nefertari Vivi shouted at the man.

Zoro took that moment to grab Luffy and drag him out of the way of what he ensued was going to be an inner organizational scuffle, "Jeez, some noisy night this Is. Don't mind me, just keep fighting amongst yourselves."

Vivi prepared to fight only for Mr. 9 to interject himself in front of her, holding both of his bats, "I may not exactly understand what is going on here, but you are still the same comrade-in-arms that I have partnered with for a long time. I'll hold them back for as long as I can Miss Wednesday. So hurry up and get away!" Mr. 9 acrobatically charged Mr. 5, "Bye, bye baby! Nekketsu Nine Konjou Bat (Hot-Blooded Gutsy Bat)!" Miss Wednesday shouted after him.

"The only thing that matters to us is the successful completion of our mission." He said as he pulled out a booger from his nose, "Such trivial things as compassion for your partner will only invite death. Know your limits, Nose Fancy Cannon!" He flicked his booger at the charging Mr. 9 where it exploded upon contact, blowing man away with the explosion.

"Damn, that's one dangerous booger." Zoro remarked absent mindedly as he saw Mr. 9 crash some distance behind Miss Wednesday. He then felt a grip on his leg, "Hey, what the hell are you doing?"

Igaram looked up at Zoro with a desperate look on his face. Zoro was rather surprised that he was still alive, "Mr. Swordsman, you are a very powerful person. Please allow me to make a request of you!" Igaram began to say.

Zoro tried to wretch free his leg, "Let go of me! I ain't going to help you just because you suck up to me!"

Naruto and Konohamaru walked up to Zoro who was still trying to wretch free his leg from the man, "Let's listen to what he has to say Zoro." Naruto said, "It's not exactly in my nature to turn down people when they need help. I'm a good guy like that."

Igaram seemed to find renewed hope from Naruto's words, "Those two are 'Devil Fruit' users and it is beyond my power to protect them. Please, please, protect the princess in my stead. I beg of you!"

Naruto didn't even need to think for long, "Yeah, sure why not? I'm bored anyway. And it isn't like this is going to be the first time I save a princess or anything like that." He stopped for a moment and sighed. He had been in enough missions that included some sort of princess or another (Sometimes, even a king and a prince) to know that this sort of scenario always came to happen because of some evil, power hungry, evil chancellor that wanted to usurp the throne or something like that.

He could feel it in his guts that something like this was happening. He looked in the direction that the princess had run off in on the back of her duck, with the two people called Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine following after her, "Well, the only good thing I can think about this entire thing is that there's always a powerful guy to fight at the end."

Zoro looked at him strangely, "What the hell are you talking about Naruto?"

Said ninja shook his head, "Nothing, just mumbling to myself."

Igaram could have had tears in his eyes, "Oh thank you so much! There will be a great prize for you, this I swear!"

"Greatly rewarded you say?" Nami said, suddenly making herself known as she sat on the edge of a nearby roof, "How about a billion beli then? That sounds about good right?"

Igaram freaked out at Nami's prize and seemed to start choking on the sum of money that she was demanding. Naruto looked up at her with a smile on his face, "Nami! I was wondering where you were."

Zoro had a sweat drop running down the back of his head, "Weren't you out cold from all the booze?"

Nami jumped down to the street below, "Oh please, how could I just drink and let my guard down. In a town that _welcomes _pirates. Talk about suspicious."

Konohamaru was already feeling bad about his ninja-honed paranoia not warning him about something fishy about the entire town at the beginning, but now knowing that not one, but _two_ completely and utterly untrained people who had never been taught to question their surroundings had been able to come to a conclusion that something was funny about Whiskey Peak was just down-right depressing. He sighed to himself, "I still have a lot to learn it seems."

Naruto looked down at his fellow ninja curiously before shrugging his shoulders, "So anyway, I said I was going to go help some princess out. So me and Konohamaru are going to go. See ya." He and Konohamaru started to walk off in the direction they had last seen the princess and her persuers run of in.

Nami raised a delicate eyebrow up her brow, "You aren't going to negotiate with him about payment?"

Naruto stopped to look back at her, "Maybe later."

Nami shrugged, "If you say so." She on the other hand was going to see if she could milk as much money as she could from this Igaram person. She knelt down, a pleasant grin on her face, "So, how about it? A billion beli." Igaram's seemed to stop in shock. Nami took that chance to look at Zoro who was still hanging around, "What are you still doing here? Go help the others protect the princess."

After seeing Naruto and Konohamaru in action, the swordsman of the Strawhat pirates was rather sure that those two would be able to handle themselves against the two Baroque Works agents. He was going to tell Nami that, but he just had a long night and he wasn't particularly up to it, "Why do I have to? If you want the money so badly, go do it yourself."

The Strawhat' navigator pointed a finger in Zoro's direction and gave him a look that might as well have been asking him whether he was stupid, "Oh, don't be so stupid. Don't you know, any contract that I make is a contract for the whole crew."

Zoro snapped at her, "What kind of retarded, unfair logic is that!? How old are you!?"

Whilst Zoro and Nami were arguing, Luffy awoke needing the toilet. Nami and Zoro didn't even notice their captain wake up and walk off in a random direction.

XxX

Mr. 5 had just taken care of a former fellow Baroque Works agent in Miss Monday that had tried to stall for time to allow Princess Vivi to escape with an exploding lariat. Mr. 5 watched the retreating Vivi as smoke wafted of the hand that had exploded, "I'm a human bomb that can make any part of my body explode. With this ability bestowed upon me by the Bomu Bomu no Mi (Bomb Bomb Fruit) there's not a single mission I've failed at." He said as he picked at his nose once more for a booger, "You can't outrun from us." He finished as he flicked the booger in the retreating princess' back, "Nose Fancy Cannon!"

Before the booger can hit the princess, it found itself split apart in half by a shuriken that resulted in the two halves of the booger flying past the princess on either side of her and exploding, leaving her unharmed.

Naruto and Konohomaru dropped down from a nearby rooftop, "You know, I've lost the amount of times I've come to rescue a princess in the nick of time. I should start getting bonuses for this." The blonde haired, blue eyed ninja remarked absentmindedly.

"I'm sure you can work it out with that Igaram guy at the end of it all, boss." Konoahamaru said as she cracked his knuckles.

Vivi was in surprise when saw the both of them, "Mr. Whiskers!" She said when she saw Naruto, "And someone else." The sound of building crumbling attracted her attention behind her where she noticed that the exploding boogers which had been split in half, whilst not killing her, had resulted in them destabilizing two buildings that had fallen right into the middle of the road, blocking it.

Now any other time, Konohamaru would have found offence at that, but at the fact that she referred to Naruto as 'Mr. Whiskers' just made every a-alright as far as he was concerned. In fact, he was actually having trouble holding back the chuckles that were bursting to come out.

Naruto cast her a dark look, "Really? Mr. Whiskers? You know what, I'm just going to let it go this once. Just because you are pretty."

An angry look came across Vivi's face as she took out her slasher and began to spin it, "Why do you have to show up now?"

Before she could do anything, such as attacking Naruto and Konohamaru who had come to save her, she was stopped by a look from Naruto, "Calm down. We aren't here to kill you or anything."

Konohamaru shared his fellow ninja's sentiments, "Yeah, we're actually here to save you."

Mr. 5 looked over the new arrivals curiously, "And who are you two? Did you help that swordsman destroy this town?"

Naruto shook his head, "That was actually all Zoro. I didn't have a help in it until the end." And even then, his help was minimal at best. Extremely so.

Mr. 5 crossed his arms, "Is that so? Then you wouldn't mind me asking, why you would help defend the princess of a country that isn't even yours?"

Konohamaru had a confident smirk on his face, "Cos we are good guys." He palmed a fist, "Hey boss, can I have them?"

Naruto thought about it and shrugged, "Yeah, sure why not?" Once again, counting on his experience when it came to saving princesses and the likes, it always ended up with him fighting against the big bad. All in all, leaving the small fries to Konohamaru and others wasn't at all that bad.

A nightly breeze rolled through the area as Mr. 5 scoffed at the brat's statement, "Well, whatever. You are in our way in any case."

Miss Valentine took of her hat to reveal the entirety of her blonde hair. She laughed, "Kyahaha, he's right. Since you are in our way. Allow me to bury your face into the ground with my ability."

Naruto saw an opportunity and took it. He gave the one called Miss Valentine a smile, "I would prefer to bury you in bed." Jiraiya would have been proud.

Konohamaru sniggered whilst the two females in attendances had various reaction to the statement. Vivi found herself blushing when she realised the full implications of what Naruto had just said and Miss Valentine had something of an annoyed look on her face, and something of a faint blush as well, "I'm going to enjoy crushing you." Miss Valentine said, darkly.

Naruto couldn't help but grin, "In bed? Fine with me."

***Boom!***

Everyone's attention was attracted to the sudden destruction of a building. The smoke from the rubble cleared to reveal Zoro and Luffy going at each other with everything in their arsenal, all the while destroying more property than what was necessary.

"What the hell are those two idiots doing?" Naruto asked anybody, anyone who would give him an answer. Pointless destruction of property was supposed to be _his_ thing. Nearly his entire arsenal of jutsus were of the wide scale variety.

"Fighting, by the looks of it." Konohamaru said, as to why, he didn't know, nor did he find himself particularly caring. Instead, he turned his attention towards his two opponents, "Alright, let's do this." He finished, his game face on.

Miss Valentine laughed at Konohamaru, "Look at him Mr. 5. He looks as if he thinks he can beat us. On his _own_."

Mr. 5 adjusted his sunglasses, "Then we'll have to show him the truth of that." He took a step forward, "One of us will do. Come meet your death, bo-." Mr. 5 was cut off from finishing his sentence when Konohamaru appeared in front of him, leg outstretched in a flying kick that caught him square in the face.

The kick sent Mr. 5 flying straight into a building. It took a moment for Miss Valentine to catch up with what had just happened and belatedly turned her head to look at the rubble of the building of where Mr. 5 had been just sent flying, "Wh-." Even she didn't finish her own sentence as Konohamaru caught the woman in the midriff with a kick, sending her into an adjacent building, much like how he had done with Mr. 5.

Konohamaru blinked when he noticed that his opponents were seemingly down for the count. He looked around, "...Well that was easy." He said as he dusted his hands. Was there actually anyone in this place who wouldn't go down after one hit? He blinked when he saw Mr. 5 pull himself out of the rubble that he had created with his body. Konohamaru had a smile on his face, "Well, would you look at that. You are the first person I've met who doesn't go down in one hit. Congratulations."

Mr. 5 stalked towards Konohamaru with intent and a dangerous air about him. The glass from his shades was cracked and in some places had fallen out, courtesy of Konohamaru's kick. He took of his glasses and threw them to the side to reveal dark eyes behind them, "I'm going to kill you." He stated simply.

The Sarutobi scion had an easy smile on his face, "You are welcome to try. You won't be the first one to have tried to do so."

Miss Valentine also soon made her appearance and despite the fact that she still had her cheerful disposition, she had an air of anger about her, "Urgh, I've had enough. Let me kill you off already!" She jumped into the air when she continued to float on upwards, "With my Kilo-Kilo no Mi!" She laughed, "Kyahaha! Prepare yourselves, my ability allows me to change from 1kg to 10,000kg in the blink of an eye!"

"Woah, 10,000kg?" Naruto whistled, "That's dangerous. Hey Konohamaru, make sure she doesn't fall on you. I don't want you to become a stain on the ground." He advised his fellow Konoha shinobi.

"I know that boss!" Konohamaru said before looking upwards at Miss Valentine. He stared at her for a few moments before allowing something that looked oddly like a lecherous smile to come across his lips, "Hey boss, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Naruto didn't even need to ask what Konohamaru was talking about. The two of them were two sides of the same coin. He had his own smile on his face, "Where do you think I've been staring this entire time?"

Miss Valentine looked down at the boys in confusion before she took note of her current circumstances. She was above them and she was wearing a dress. Her face flushed with colour as she closed her legs.

Naruto booed, "Party pooper!"

An angry vein appeared on Miss Valentine's head, "I'm going to enjoy killing the both of you! Where the hell do you think you are staring, you pair of perverts!?"

Naruto took offence at that, "Hey, it's not like we're actively peeking at you. It's more likely your fault for starting to float around in a fucking dress." He stopped for a moment and looked back up at her, "You really like the colour yellow don't you?" That and lemons from what he could see.

"10,000 Kilo Press!" Like a weight, she dropped down from the sky all of a sudden, her intended target being Naruto.

Naruto stepped aside. He looked down at the hole that Miss Valentine had created with her own attack, "I admit, being able to go from a kilogram to 10,000 kilograms would be utterly frightening, but it's not so scary if you can easily dodge it by just moving aside from it." Her attack was rather one dimensional and slow enough (To him) that it would be rather embarrassing for him, if it had actually hit.

Konohamaru had seen what had happened and wasn't at all that impressed. He had something of a pout on his face, "You said I could fight them boss."

Naruto looked at his fellow ninja, "She attacked me out of the blue." Vivi had some words for that, but kept them to herself, "Oh right, behind you." He warned him.

"Yeah I know."

Mr. 5 had used the distraction caused by Miss Valentine to try and launch a surprise attack on Konohamaru by attacking with a kick aimed at his upper body and then promptly afterwards, detonating his leg. He didn't expect the young teenager to move away from his kick before turning on his heel and retaliating with a high kick of his own that caught him on the cheek, sending him crashing to the ground.

Konohamaru looked down at Mr. 5 with a smile on his face as he spit out a glob of blood from his mouth, "Didn't you say something about 'removing' me and the boss?" He patted himself on the torso whilst his opponent got back onto his feet, "Well would you look at this, we still haven't been 'removed'."

The dark skinned man growled as he rubbed the cheek that had been kicked, "Don't get too cocky brat. You've only managed to land two hits."

Konohamaru held up two fingers, "Two more than you."

"Yeah, why don't you try that again? See how it ends for you."

Konohamaru raised an eyebrow at the challenge, "Alright then." He started advancing all the whilst going through hand signs.

Mr. 5 prepared himself to counter, '_I'll blow up whatever body part he hits the moment he makes contact.' _The boy would end up living, but without an arm or a leg, depended on the appendage he used, '_And whilst he's in shock, I'll finish it off with __Zenshin Kibaku (Full Body Exploding)__!' _Althought a single question did go through his mind as Konohamaru advanced at him, the question being what the hell he was doing with his hands, making funny symbols with them.

Before he reached with arms reach of Mr. 5, Konohamaru grinned and dropped down low and slammed his hands to the ground, "You were planning to blow up the moment I hit you, weren't you? Unlucky for you, I was able to catch you explaining how your powers worked."

Mr. 5's eyebrows shot up in alarm before he calmed himself down. If the boy knew how his powers worked, how was he going to attack him now without risking injury to himself?, "So you aren't going to hit me then? So how are you going to attack?"

Konohamaru had a feral grin on his face, "With this, Doton: Doryuso (Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears)!" Having kneaded the necessary chakra and sent it into the ground, he condensed the ground and used his chakra to shape spikes that protruded from the ground to skewer Mr. 5. By the time Mr. 5 noticed the attack, it was too late as several spikes of earth had pierced his torso. Konohamaru rose up from the ground, dusting of his hands, "Seems like I ended up removing you instead." He turned towards where the others were and noticed that Miss Valentine had climbed out of the hole she had created. She was looking at him with a rather wary expression. He raised an eyebrow, "You want to fight me too?"

Miss Valentine allowed a nervous laugh to escape from the back of her throat, "Ah, no. I think I'm rather good, to be honest." She wasn't really one to fight all by her lonesome. Most of the time, it was Mr. 5 who did the majority of the fighting and she would be lying if she didn't say that Mr. 5 was stronger than her, yet he had been beaten by a teenage boy no less. She knew that if she tried to fight him, it would most likely end up in the same way as Mr. 5's own fight.

But that brought a bit of a problem. She glanced in the direction of the reason why they had been sent to the edge of the Grand Line in the first place. The boss had sent them to kill her because she had broken the rules of Baroque Works, '..._I could try to kill her.' _She thought, but the question was how. She couldn't do it whilst the dark haired boy and the blonde one were here.

The woman known as Miss Valentine was no fool. She knew who he was. She made a habit of checking any new wanted posters for promising recruits to Baroque Works. She had assumed that 'The Calamity' and 'The Devil Monkey' only had overly inflated bounties but by the looks of it, on just seeing one of them in action, they seemed well deserved, '_Once upon a time, we may even have tried to recruit them.' _She wanted to laugh.

Naruto noticed the glance that Miss Valentine had given in the direction of Vivi, "I hope you aren't planning on doing anything stupid. You'll regret It." He said to the sunny blonde woman.

Miss Valentien might as well have jumped in her spot. She laughed somewhat uneasily, "Kyahaha...of course not. So what happens to me?" It would be rather nice of them to just let her go...of course she would have nowhere else to go since Baroque Works would sent the Unluckies or some of the other officer agents after her for failing the mission.

Naruto thought hard about It, "Well, we can't just let you go." She might go back and report to this Baroque Works organisation that they had failed. That would mean they would just sent her back, but with backup the next time, "And we can't force you to stay either..." Because it also worked in reverse. They would end up sending someone else regardless if she didn't return.

Miss Valentine found herself paling somewhat, "So you're going to kill me?"

"Nah, I think we'll take you prisoner." This was the lesser of two evils as far as Naruto was concerned. At least this way, this Baroque Works wouldn't have any prior information onto who exactly they were fighting against.

***Crash!***

"Are those two still going at it?" Konohamaru asked as he looked in the direction of where he saw a pillar of dust and smoke rise up into the sky, "What are they even fighting about?" Weren't they supposed to be on the same crew? Friends and the likes? "Someone is going to have to stop them before they kill each other."

Naruto noticed the look he was receiving from Konohamaru, "Yeah, not me. They're big boys, I'm sure they know when to stop."

* * *

**AN: Well...this sort of ran away with me. I'll try not to make this happen again in the future. **

**Anyhow, I apologise for the lack of updates on my other stories as of late, I've just hadn't had the time to do this hobby of mine. Never worry though, I'll be updating real soon when it comes to my other stories, I've found myself with free time for the first time in a while. **

**For future reference, the comparison I made between One Piece and Naruto back on chapter one, forget about it. That was my mistake, I should have known better. Although I've been reading manga for some years now, I never actually stopped to think of what would happen if you compared A to B or something like who would win a fight between A and B. That was my mistake. **

**Anyway, if you think Naruto and Konohamaru are having too easy of a time at the moment, well, they are at the start of the Grand Line. All the stronger guys are located further along the road and if you are thinking that at the moment, the story if following the One Piece plot too closely, never fear, despite not having time to actually, you know, write the story, I've been able to come up with various original plots. Plots which will come in later on, most of them somewhat political when it comes to the Elemental Nations and the wider world and some of them including everyone's favourite mad scientist ninja.**

**Well, that's all I'll say apart from I'll be trying to include just about as much of the Naruto world as possible to the One Piece world to make it seem like one giant connected world, not two separate distinct worlds. It's going to be a challenge but I'm confident I'll be able to pull it off somehow.**

**Oh right, if anything useful does turn up in the new Naruto Gaiden: 7th Hokage series, I'll probably use it as reference material for my story.**

**Well, laters**

**Raidensokwl.**


	6. On My Way

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece

* * *

On My Way

"Ah there you are!" Nami called out rather happily after she saw Naruto and Konohamaru and most importantly, the princess of a kingdom that was willing to pay her a billion beli for her safe return to her kingdom. She might as well skipped towards the two of them, all the while whilst dragging Zoro and Luffy behind her by the scruffs of their clothes, "I knew I could count on you guys to keep the princess safe." And more importantly, her billion beli.

Naruto shrugged at the apparent praise, "Well, bodyguard duties are one of the many things a ninja is required to do." He then noticed the forms of Zoro and Luffy. He sweat dropped, "I saw them fighting. Why were they fighting?"

"Beats me." Nami answered him with a shrug. As she came to a stop in front of the group, she dropped the two pirates unceremoniously to the ground. She looked around before noticing something. She pointed at Miss Valentine, "Isn't she one of the people that is trying to kill the princess?" Now that she thought about it, there was also one other assassin.

It didn't take long for her to find the formerly living Mr. 5. She held back a wince when she saw his skewered body by what looked like to be spears coming up from the ground. She could tell that the entire thing had been messy.

Konohamaru and Naruto nodded their heads, "She is."

Nami's hands were on her hips, a confused expression on her face, "So why is she just standing there?"

Miss Valentine answered the question for her, with her usual cheerful disposition, "Oh, well youe see, after realising I really can't stand much of a chance in a fight against either of them, I gladly surrendered. Now it seems I'm their prisoner." She laughed at the end.

The Strawhats navigator bobbed her head up and down as she took this into account before speaking, "So she's your prisoner?" The two ninjas from the back end of East Blue nodded their heads, "Then why isn't she in chains?" Just letting her roam around like that could put the princess in danger and making the contract she had worked so hard to work out null and void. Well, maybe not null and void, but she doubted Igaram and Alabasta would be willing to pay large amounts of money for a damaged princess.

"Me and the boss are the chains." Konohamaru replied smoothly, "She tries anything. Pow. She's done for."

"Aha..." Nami let out slowly, "Well, I would still prefer it if she's tied up." From behind her, Zoro and Luffy started stirring and immediately seemed to get ready into going back into their previous activity of fighting against each other, "You know, for precautionary reasons."

Naruto waved her caution away, "It's fine. We've got this handled."

Nami was still sceptical but she nodded none the less. Eventually, the commotion that was being started up once more by her two crew mates was starting to get to her, "Will you two stop it already!?" She yelled at them as she viciously punched them into the ground.

Watching Luffy and Zoro get smacked in the back of the head caused Carue to quack in surprise at the violence that was on show and the princess that was riding on top of him to sweat drop. Not that she didn't mind the help, especially against Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine, people she could rightly say were stronger than her.

She cleared her throat to get their attention, which it did as the group turned their eyes on her and Carue, "What are you people talking about?" She asked, before another question popped into mind, "And why did you save me?"

"Ah, you don't know anything yet do you?" Nami said before smiling at the princess, "How would you like to make a contract with me?" Maybe she could get more money out of this than before.

The princess riding the duck was confused, "...A contract?"

Apparently the whole fighting between Zoro and Luffy had been nothing more than a big misunderstanding. A misunderstanding largely blamed on the side of Luffy.

The Straw-hat wearing youth had woken up from his sleeping wanting the toilet and after doing his business whilst in a daze, it was then that he noticed the various villagers knocked out and strewn across the various streets of Whiskey Peak courtesy of Zoro.

When Luffy had taken to question one of them about who had done this, the towns folk had pointed in the direction of Zoro, not knowing who he was talking to. More than likely because of the various wounds that were on his person.

The others couldn't believe the story when they had heard, "Seriously Luffy..." Naruto began, holding a hand to his face as he slowly shook it, "You are just incredible." He knew Luffy was dumb, but from what he had seen and heard, he was starting to make the Naruto of seven years back seem like a bloody genius.

"Nobody can be that dumb, can't they?" Konohamaru asked. He was well aware that some laws of the universe made it so that there would always be someone dumber than another some place some where, but Luffy was stretching it. And the thought that if said laws of the universe were true, then that meant there was someone _dumber_ than Luffy who existed.

He hoped that person wasn't as powerful as Luffy was now or in the future or held any particular position of power.

"I refuse." Vivi said with a serious expression. For a while now, the orange haired pirate had been trying to make an agreement with her about a safe passage back to Alabasta, all the while trying to swindle her kingdom out of outrageous amounts of money, "But you have my thanks for saving my life back then."

Nami found herself confused, "What, why? You are a princess right?" A billion beli or so should be nothing to her. The princess should be willing to share some of her kingdom's wealth with the world.

"Have you heard of the Kingdom of Alabasta?" Vivi suddenly asked.

Nami shook her head, "Can't say I have, why?" She wasn't the only one to shake their heads. Everyone else had never heard of the Kingdom of Alabasta, even more so for the pair of travelling ninjas.

Vivi then broke into an explation, telling them about her kingdom, "It's a highly civilised country on the Grand Line. And it used to be peaceful as well, long ago."

Konohamaru raised an eyebrow, "Long ago?"

The princess nodded her head, "The past few years have been mired by revolutionary activities. Due to those revolutionaries, my country is currently in a state of chaos. One day, I happened to learn of Baroque Works and learned that it was this organisation that had been instigating the revolutionaries and apart from that, I didn't learn anything else or could do anything about It." The princess took on a troubled look the longer she talked about the situation happening in her country, "One day, I asked Igaram if it was at all possible for me to infiltrate the organisation."

Luffy took that moment to speak up, "You mean that guy with the funky hair?" He asked as he motioned at his head.

The princess gave a nod of confirmation before continuing to speak, looking down at the ground forlornly, "That was the only way I could think of that could clear the dark shadow over Alabasta and determine what exactly Baroque Works objective was."

Zoro was rather impressed by the princess' actions, taking the fate and ails of her country into her own hands like that. How could he not be impressed? She had some spunk, for a princess that was, "Well, aren't you a brave little princess?"

"So did you learn what Baroque Works want to do exactly?" Konohamaru asked from where he sat.

Nami was the one who answered him, "Their goal is to 'create the ideal country'. That's what they're scheming towards." She paused for a moment as a sudden realisation came to her head, "Wait, don't tell..."

The princess nodded her head rather gravely, "Yes, it's as you suspect. They might be working towards making an ideal country, but their true goal is to take over the kingdom! And if I don't hurry back and tell the revolutionaries about Baroque Works, everything will be going as they planned."

Nami sighed, "Well, I suppose a country in the midst of a civil war would have a hard time to find some money to spare."

Luffy was rather interested in the identity of the leader of Baroque Works, "So who's the boss? The guy that send her and her partner to kill you?" He finished as he thumbed in the direction of Miss Valentine.

Miss Valentine might as well have recoiled from the question, "I don't know, neither do I want to know. Nobody is supposed to know the identities of anyone in Baroque Works. That's pretty much _the _rule in Baroque Works." She cast a glare in the direction of the princess, "If she knows what's good for her, she'll say absolutely nothing."

Konohamaru raised an eyebrow, "Is this boss supposed to be _that_ scary?"

Vivi nodded her head frantically, "He Is. No matter how strong you pirates are, you can't possibly be able to stand up to one of the Ouka Shichibukai (Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea)!" Not long after she said the words, the princess' hand immediately moved to her mouth to cover it up.

Some of the others that had been in attendance to hear Vivi declare that the bid bad of Baroque Works belonged to the Shichibukai had jaws hanging, although some for different reasons. Others didn't particularly seem fazed by the proclamation.

Nami had her own jaw hanging loose from her mouth and eyes wide open whilst hugging herself so tightly. Luffy on the other, whilst his jaw was hanging open, it was more out of excitement than anything else. He could hardly believe it, a Shichibukai so early in the Grand Line? Now that was awesome.

Zoro only had an annoyed expression, "Hey, hey, didn't you just say his name...?" Well, it wasn't his name, but now they knew that the Baroque Works boss was only one of seven people in the world.

Miss Valentine found her legs turning to jelly and slumping to her knees. Her parasol dropping to the ground beside her, "…I'm going to die." Just what was up with today? Running into freakishly strong people so near the start of the Grand Line was just ridiculous. Wait, she could still salvage this, for as long as no-one knew that she knew that her boss was a Shichibukai, everything was A-Okay.

Konohamaru didn't seem all that nonplussed, in fact, he's only thought on the matter was simple. He raised a hand, "What the hell is an Ouka Shichibukai?" Also, he had another question, "And could someone tell me what the deal is with that otter and vulture?" He finished as he pointed to a nearby rooftop were Mr. 13 and Miss Friday were perched.

Everyone's eyes were trained on the two animals. The two animals stared back at them before sharing a look at each other and then flying off, much to the alarm of Miss Valentine and Nami.

Tears were cascading down Miss Valentine's face from her eyes as she wept. Well, that weren't her just playing it safe and pretending she hadn't heard anything she wasn't supposed to. Right now, she knew the Unluckies were on their way to report what had just happened, "Just what is it with today?"

Whilst Luffy and Zoro were busy gushing over the fact that they were going to be up against a Shichibukai so early in the Grand Line, Nami had exagerrated tears going down her face as she grabbed Vivi by the scruffs of her clothes, "What was with those animals just right now!? Did they go back to report about the boss' secret!? What's going to happen to us, well!?"

Vivi could only pathetically apologise as she was crying as well, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She tried to laugh it off, "It just sort of slipped out by accident."

Nami was not amused, "You think saying it _accidentally_ makes everything better!? Why do we have to become hunted just because of a slip-up from you!?" She snapped at the younger woman. She couldn't find herself to continue being angry and started wiping away the tears that were falling down her face, "And just when we started sailing the Grand Line as well..."

"Seriously, will no-one tell me what an 'Ouka Shichibukai' is?" Konohamaru asked but once again found himself being ignored. Why, he couldn't imagine. He was asking a decent question here. They were making a fuss over this 'Ouka Shichibukai' so it must have been something, right?

Not long afterwards, Nami said her good-byes to Luffy and Zoro and tried to wash her hands of the Strawhats to save her own skin. She walked down the street but didn't go far as she ended up running into Miss Friday who was sketching something in a sketch book.

Nami didn't have to wait long before the otter showed what it had been sketching. Nami praised the otter on the skill of her drawings as the sketches were rather accurate of everyone who had been in attendance to hear the secret.

With her job done, Miss Friday climbed upon the back of Mr. 13 and flew off once more, leaving Nami to her own devices. Nami promptly turned around and made her way back to the group, "Now I can't even run away!"

Vivi could only apologise meekly once more, "S-Sorry. I really am."

Miss Valentine got herself together, "What about me dammit!?" She asked, the tears still streaming down her face, "Now I'll be hunted as well because of your slip-up."

Once again, the blue haired princess could only apologise, "Sorry! I really, really, _really_ am sorry!" She apologised to the person that had been trying to kill her not some long ago.

The only good thing that Zoro could seemingly find in all this was one thing. One thing that caused him to grin, "Well, in any case, it seems all of us are on Baroque Works hit list."

Luffy had a wide toothy smile on his face, "This is so cool!" Nami and Miss Valentine were sat facing away from them, auras of depression around them all the while Vivi tried her best to console both of them.

She even offered Nami money.

Konohamaru had watched the reactions of the two women and the reaction of the two men that didn't seem to care. He corked his head to the side in confusion, "So I take it a Shichibukai's really strong then?" No-one answered him, but he didn't care when he noticed that something was amiss. Actually, when he noticed that someone was missing. He looked around, whipping his head from left to right, "Where the hell is the boss?"

XxX

A woman with shoulder length black hair and brown eyes raised a glass that had some red wine within it. On her face, she had a calm smile, "I have to say, it was so nice of you to go out of your way to have this nice candle lit dinner with little old me." She said. The dark-haired woman was tall and slender with a long, and thin defined nose. She wore a cleavage exposing corset with a matching mini-skirt, both with white ornaments hanging from them and a white fur lined coat with a white cowboy hat with her look finished off by white high-heeled boots.

Seating opposite her on the other side of the table on the bank of the river that led into Whiskey Peak, Naruto gave her a smile, "Well, it would be a dinner if we actually had some food." He sighed rather dramatically, "Alas, I could only find some liquor and wine for our little date."

Her smile widened just some, "A date?" She repeated, seemingly amused by the notion, "You have a funny notion of taking a girl out, Mr..." She trailed off for a name.

Naruto was more than willing to oblige her, "Uzumaki. Uzumaki Naruto." He scratched the back of his head, "And now you sort of have me at a disadvantage, you know my name, but I don't know yours."

She still had that smile on her face. Even when he randomly dropped in on her, she didn't seem at all surprised or react in any way or form, "Nico Robin. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Uzumaki."

Naruto made a squint eyed face, crossing his arms over his chest, "Urgh, just call me Naruto. I'm not really one of those guys that get into the whole honorific stuff."

She chuckled, "Well, it would be impolite of me if I do, and I was rather raised to be nothing more than polite and be courteous, Mr. Uzumaki."

After getting his fill of laughter at Zoro and Luffy for their stupidity, mostly aimed at Luffy since he was the number one cause for it, Naruto had decided to check the surrounding area to see whether they should be worried about anymore Baroque Works agents so that they didn't have to worry about another surprise that was similar in the form of Miss Valentine and Mr. 5.

Apart from two strange animals in the form of a vulture and otter, he had come across nothing amiss, until he was able to sense someone with a noticeable enough presence that he couldn't just ignore it.

And after searching for the source of the presence, he soon enough found himself coming across the woman seating across him. He actually didn't know how they had come to be seating in one of the river front buildings drinking some alcohol between them. Not that he minded. He was currently having drinks with a really, really beautiful woman. Any other day, this would be a good day, but he just knew that it was going to be marred by his next question, "So you wouldn't happen to be a part of this Baroque Works, group would you? Cos that would suck."

"Now do you really need me to tell you that?" Nico Robin asked him, cool as a cucumber, "I'm sure you can come to your own conclusion as to that question."

Naruto sighed and slumped in his seat, "Oh man. That sucks. I really don't want to fight you." He rather liked her. They had been having a nice little chatty between them before he got onto this subject. It was a shame that he was going to have to ruin their budding friendship by fighting her...despite the fact that most of his friendships were built after punching someone's face in.

"Then don't." She suggested. She made a motion with her hand, "I'm here to take care of a little something and after that, I'll be on my merry way again."

Naruto's face took on a stern expression, "If that 'little something' of yours includes killing a certain princess of a certain country, I really can't let you do that."

She leaned forward on the table and rested her cheek in the palm of her hand. She was giving Naruto quite the view of what was inside her corset, "Why?" She asked, innocent as can be.

Naruto had to keep his eyes firmly on her face and that was an exercise with his will to not make his eyes drop below a certain level. It wasn't helped by the fact that he could hear a certain voice egging him on in the back of his mind, "I said I'll protect her."

Her head shifted to the side ever so slightly and for the first time, Naruto thought he saw a flicker of an emotion that wasn't of the calm variety flicker across her eyes, "I don't understand." She admitted freely, "I'm sure you've just met her tonight. Why would you protect someone out of the blue, just like that?"

Naruto gave her the most serious look he could give her, "Well, she's a princess. And she's in need. This is straight out of t.v. here. There's no way I can pass this up. It might even end up with us living happily ever after."

"This isn't a fairy tale."

"I know. I was just messing with you then. It's not like Vivi's the first princess I've saved along with her country. I've got some experience when it comes to the whole tortured/heroic/angst-ridden princess and the country in need scenario. I've done this so many times, I've lost count."

Nico Robin couldn't help herself but laugh, "I like how you said that with a completely straight face. Either you have an excellent poker face and an excellent liar or what you just told me was the truth."

Naruto cast her a toothy grinned, "The truth of course."

"Well, whatever princesses and kingdoms you have saved in the past, this is different. It's best to leave this one well alone, Mr. Uzumaki." She warned him rather politely.

It wasn't as if this was the first time Naruto was warned by someone to back-off a matter that he had no right to be in. And like all such warnings, he simply ignored them, "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Dying at the hands of my boss. He's rather powerful, you see."

"I'm pretty strong too."

Robin couldn't help but find herself intrigued at his confidence. She wondered where he got it from, "Strong enough to defeat one of the Ouka Shichibukai?"

The blonde haired, blue-eyed ninja could only give the lovely lady seating across him a blank look, "What the hell is an Ouka Shichibukai?"

For the first time, Robin found herself somewhat at a loss of words. She looked at him with a delicate eyebrow raised up her head, "You don't know about the Ouka Shichibukai?" He shook his head for his answer, "How can you not know? Everyone knows about them."

"I'm not from around here." Naruto answered with an uncaring shrug of the shoulders.

That didn't answer her question. Even if someone was from the Blues, they at least should have known what the title of Ouka Shichibukai was. Not knowing was just ridiculous as far as she was concerned. She shook her head in amazement, "I suppose I shall have to enlighten you, it seems Mr. Uzumaki."

"Go ahead, enlighten me."

The calm smile of hers returned to her face once more, "The Shichibukai are seven privateers in the service of the World Government. All of them have high bounties and are freakishly powerful. My boss is one of them. Would you really take your chances for a girl you've never met against some of the most powerful people in the Grand Line?"

If Robin had been intending to cow Naruto into submission with her rather, admittedly, limited explanation of the Shichibukai, she had been dead wrong. All she did in the end just make Naruto curious about her boss, "So your boss is powerful? Awesome. What's his name? Just so I know when I kick his ass. I might not have the chance to ask him whilst fighting him." It was, at least, the courtesy he could give the man.

Robin just looked at him before shaking her head as she leaned back into her seat. Her black hair swayed with each shake, "Sir Crocodile if you must know, Mr. Uzumaki. But in Baroque Works, he's known as Mr. 0."

Naruto nodded, "Good-." He was stopped short when he heard the sound of a massive explosion happen on the river behind him. The area was illuminated and washed in a colour of burning orange from the explosion. Naruto sharply and quickly turned his head to look at the river before back to Nico Robin, his eyes narrowed, "You didn't..."

All she could do was smile at him, "How could I? I've been here with you the whole time."

Dammit, she was right. He had kept his eyes on her the entire time and she had done nothing to actually set up the explosion. And when he had found her, she was just coming into town. There was no way that she could have been the cause of the explosion.

Wait a second, from what he could see, these people worked in pairs, "Where's your partner?" Naruto demanded, his voice low and serious.

If she felt threatened, she didn't show it, "In Alabasta." She noticed the look of confusion that came across Naruto's face. She laughed, "I'm the vice-president of Baroque Works, Mr. Uzumaki and my partner is the president himself. Did I not say?"

Naruto felt like growling, "No, you didn't."

"Must have slipped my hand." She cocked her head to the side ever so slightly, "Didn't enjoy the fireworks I see. Should probably go check if your friends are alright. Don't mind me."

Naruto rose to his feet, "And here I thought me and you would have a beautiful relationship."

"Oh don't be silly, I'm far too old for you."

"Age doesn't really matter for ninjas." With that, Naruto vanished from her sight courtesy of a leaf shunshin.

Robin picked up her glass of wine and brought it to her lips, "Ninjas?" She mused quietly to herself, "What a strange man."

XxX

Konohamaru leapt over the gunwale of their ship, all wet and soaked. Over his shoulder was Igaram dressed in drag in the likeness of the princess that was under his care in the form of Vivi. He dropped said man in drag to the deck without a care in the world.

He shook out his head, "Why did I save him again?" Oh right, because he had a bad case of the hero complex and the no-one left behind complex as well. After seeing the explosion go off, Luffy and the others had scurried off dragging Vivi with them to quickly leave just in case they were more pursuers after them.

Instead of going with them, Konohamaru had charged head long towards the sight of the explosion to see whether Igaram had survived the burning inferno that had occurred. He didn't hold out any hopes or the likes, but he had been somewhat pleasantly surprised to come across the man floating face down in the water with burns on his persons and most importantly, still breathing.

He looked down at Igaram, "You are like a cockroach." Not many people survived those kinds of explosions and lived to tell the tale, so the comparison was justified as far as he was concerned, "I should treat his wounds, but I don't know how." He wasn't a medic-nin. He didn't have the chakra control to be one. He only knew the basic field medicine. He sighed, "Guess I should wait for the boss...although I get the feeling that I'm forgetting something." He shrugged his shoulders. If he couldn't remember it, it probably wasn't important.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Not long after thinking of waiting for Naruto, said blonde ninja appeared on the deck of the ship in a swirl of leaves, "Konohamaru? Silk-chan? Noji-chan? Everyone still alive?" Naruto asked frantically as he looked around, ready to dash towards anyone in need of some healing power.

Konohamaru made himself known to the older ninja, "Everyone's fine. He's not though. Might want to look at him." He finished off as he pointed down at Igaram unconscious on the deck of the ship.

"Sweet mother of all that goods and holy! When the hell did Vivi get so ugly?" The last time he had seen her, and not long ago as well, she was a very hot princess that had danced for him. Not...whatever this was.

Konohamaru sweat-dropped, "It's Igaram boss."

Naruto blinked, "Igaram?" He said in recollection before getting a closer look and was able to see that the injured and burned man was indeed the man who had hidden guns in a saxophone and his hair previously during the night. He raised a curious eyebrow, "Why the hell is he in drag?"

"He was acting as a decoy for the real princess, silly." Miss Valentine explained to him as she floated down from the sky onto the deck of the ship. When she landed, she closed her parasol, "He did it so that the real princess can get away with those other pirates."

Konohamaru pointed at her, "Ah! I knew I was forgetting something." Wow, this could have been embarrassing. If the boss had learned that he had completely forgotten about their prisoner, Naruto would never have let it down. Actually, that brought a thought to his mind, "You could have escaped. Why did you come here?"

Miss Valentine shrugged her shoulders somewhat demurely, going against the rather cheerful personality of hers, "I don't know, maybe because I thought that I would live for far longer if I was with you guys. You know what they say, safety in numbers. Even more so now with Baroque Works after us."

That still didn't make sense for Konohamaru, "Then you could have easily gone with Luffy and the others."

"And I probably would have ended up killing that princess for blurting out the boss' name and putting me in the positon that I am now!" And probably have those very same people that were with her and supposed to protect her do the same to her, "So I thought it would be easier if I was with you guys."

Naruto was rather amazed, "I have to say, this is the first time I've ever had of a prisoner actually willing to be a prisoner." It couldn't be Stockholm Syndrome. She had barely been with them or one of them for long enough periods to suddenly develop the condition.

Miss Valentine looked at Naruto, "And where did you disappear of to, anyway?"

"I was scouting out the town, just in case you and the now deceased Mr. 5 had any back-up."

"We didn't have any back-up."

"Turns out you did. Someone called Nico Robin."

Miss Valentine's mouth hanged open, "'Devil Child' Nico Robin? Why would she be our back-up?"

Naruto could only shrug, "Well, I suppose checking to make sure that people do their jobs correctly is one of the positions of vice-president." Baroque Works might have been a criminal organisation, but by the looks of it, it still functioned just like any other organisation. His attention was attracted to Miss Valentine who had dropped to her knees and was crying. Naruto looked at Konohamaru, "What's wrong with her?"

Konohamaru could only shrug at him in answer, "Beats me. Last time I saw her like this, it was when we learned that the leader of her organisation was some person in the Shichibukai." He still didn't know what the Shichibukai meant, "Hey," He called out at her, "What's wrong now?"

Miss Valentine was sobbing, "'Devil Child' Nico Robin is Miss All-Sunday." Was all she said.

Miss Valentine couldn't believe It. It was bad enough learning the identity of the boss himself but now she knew the identity of the vice-president as well? She just wanted to curl up into a ball and let the world swallow her whole.

"So she has a codename too?" Naruto mused, "I guess I should have asked her." He then turned around and went towards healing Igaram of his burns and injuries. He felt rather bad that he had nearly forgotten about him or had ignored him for so long with such injuries. But before he did that, he created several clones that surprised the hell out of Miss Valentine before they set out to man the ship and sail away from here.

"Nojiko-neesan is still out cold boss." Konohamaru pointed out.

Naruto was kneeling beside Igaram, his palms on his chest and was concentrating, "I know. But we can't stay here. Anywhere's better than here."

The chuunin-ranked ninja could only agree, "Suppose that's true."

XxX

It was way past afternoon the next day that Nojiko emerged from the lower decks of the ship. The moment she stepped out onto the outside desk, she wished she had stayed inside in the darkness that was her room.

She brought up a hand to try and shield her eyes away from the bright, glaring light that came from the sun that was burning hotly high above in the sky, "Urgh, what happened last night?" She asked anyone within hearing range. In her other hand, the hand that wasn't being used to shield her eyes, she held a bottle of water to quickly and try to rehydrate herself.

Naruto was the first one to notice Nojiko coming out from below the deck. He waved in greeting, "Oh, afternoon Noji-chan. You look like shit." Her skin didn't look like it had any colour to it. It looked all pasty and clamy.

"I feel like shit." Nojiko returned as she moved to his side.

The blonde haired, blue eyed ninja couldn't help but grin, "Yeah, I suppose that had something to do with the fact that you drank yourself into a bloody stupor. You should have watched how much you drank last night Noji-chan. Didn't know you loved your liquor that much."

"I don't." Nojiko said in return simply. She took a large drink of water from the water bottle in her hand, "Naruto-kun, you say you can do a lot of things. If you know how to switch of the sun right now, I'll do anything you ask."

At that moment in time, Naruto wished that he could control his chakra much better than he did as of this moment in time. And even if he could control his chakra to a superb degree, it wasn't as if he knew the jutsu that would make all of Nojiko's dreams come true when it came to her hangover, "Yeah, that's one of the few things I can't do. But I'll see if I can do anything for that hangover of yours. Come here." He finished, motioning her to sit down next to him.

Nojiko cast him a look before taking the seat beside him, "You better try not anything fun. I'm hung over, not drunk."

"I'm offended that you think so little of me." He placed a hand onto the side of her head and started concentrating, "I don't know if this will do anything to your hang-over, but we'll see when I'm done."

Nojiko was confused at first before she found her drowsy and fatigued body get injected with energy all of a sudden. She nearly shot to her feet at the strange and somehow foreign feeling. It was as if she had been given something to perk her up, "What did you do?"

"Hang-over cure." Naruto replied after taking his hand away from her head, "Or something close to It." There was no actual hang over cure. All he could do was lessen the effects of it on the person it was affecting.

Nojiko did find her body far more energetic than it was before, but she still felt as if the sun was going to blind her and there were drums playing inside her head, "You can heal people now?"

"Something like that."

Nojiko shook her head before quickly realising that was a bad idea. Now her world was spinning, "I'm going to try and not be surprised in the future when you do something ridiculous or what I think would be impossible. But hey, at least we now don't need a doctor if you can heal people."

"We probably will. Yes, I can heal people, but I don't know how to take care of people or know exactly what I'm supposed to be healing." If he tried to heal somebody without knowing what exactly was wrong with them, there was a good chance he could apply too much of his healing power and kill the poor person. There was such a thing as too much medicine. Heck, that was how people overdosed, by giving them too much of something that is supposed to make them better, "Even for me, there's limits. I'm not god."

Nojiko looked at him strangely, "I wasn't saying you were. You are strange person, Naruto-kun. Why so defences about the whole god thing?"

"Let's just say too many bad memories with people with god complexes." He replied with a sigh. He could count them on one hand, but all of them were ridiculous powerful. And he wasn't even counting the fact that he had ended up fighting a literal god as well.

Nojiko didn't understand, but she nodded her head nonetheless as if she did. Instead, she decided to take a look around and see what was happening. She wasn't at all that surprised to notice that the deck was filled with clones of Naruto doing this and that. The only reason she suspected the Naruto she was speaking to was the real one was because he was doing absolutely nothing at all...so why weren't his clones shooting him dirty looks like they usually did when he did nothing and they were doing something?

"Your clones are rather...nice today." She didn't have a better word for it. Sometimes, Naruto didn't get along with himself. It was rather freaky.

Naruto had a smile on his face, "Oh, because I'm actually doing some work."

The blue-haired navigator looked at him and gave him a once over, "...No offence Naruto-kun, but you are just sitting down in the middle of the deck doing absolutely nothing."

Naruto kissed his teeth, "I'm training." He pointed further down the ship in the direction of the bow, "See that kunai planted into the deck?"

Nojiko followed his hand and the finger to what they were pointing to and saw one of those strange weapons Naruto and Konohamaru use to fight and train with each other and sometimes with her and Silk. She noticed this one was rather different from the other ones she had seen them train with. It was three pronged with a thick handle and markings on said handle. The kunai also happened to sit in the middle of a circle that seemed to be five meters in diameter.

"Okay, I see It." Nojiko said with a slow nod, "So how are you training?"

"I'm going to teleport to that kunai." With the objective that he was going to land within the confines of the diameter of the circle. He didn't understand why the Hiraishin was such a complicated jutsu. Actually that was a lie, he could understand why it was a complicated jutsu, it was space-time, a very advanced one at that.

The only reason he suspected he had got so far with the jutsu as he did was because he had basic understanding of space-time jutsu because of the Kawarimi no Jutsu, the most basic space-time jutsu in the ninja world. That and the fact that he had also asked for help with people that had used space-time jutsus themselves.

Which were a limited majority of people. And even if they were a majority, not all jutsus of that particular branch of the ninjutsu arts were similar in application.

Nojiko just took him at his word, "Oh, sounds like fun." And speaking of training and the fact that she was currently eyeing a weapon, that got her thinking, "Say Naruto-kun."

"Yeah?"

"Have you figured out what exactly I'll be using to defend myself. You can't honestly expect me to go around using my fists do you?"

"Well, no. Not really." He jumped to his feet, "I suppose this is a good a time as any." He opened up his uniform jacket and his hand passed over a storage seal. A small puff of smoke later, Naruto was holding a gun in his bandaged up hand, "Yeah, here you go." He chucked the gun at Nojiko.

She caught the gun in her lap easily enough, "A gun?" She wasn't a stranger to guns, but the one in her lap was rather strange. She had never seen such a design before. She picked it up at the handle and began examining it. It looked like a regular flintlock pistol but with the addition of what looked like to a cylinder with six bullet chambers and a rabid fire trigger, "What sort of gun is this?"

Naruto gave her a shrug, "I have no idea. I looted it from some guy called Mr. 5 back in Whiskey Peak. He certainly didn't need it anymore." When the chakra sustaining Konohamaru's jutsu had run out, Mr. 5's body had crumbled to the floor and Naruto had been able to catch a curious sound when his body hit the ground. He had checked what had made the sound and found the gun instead. It looked rather strange from the ones he had come to see, but he figured that Nojiko would love it. After all, she had held a gun to both Naruto and Konohamaru the first time they had met, "Maybe Miss Valentine knows."

Nojiko looked at Naruto with an expression of confusion, "Who's Miss Valentine?" Actually, the mentioning of Whiskey Peak made her realise that they weren't at Whiskey Peak anymore, "Actually, why are we sailing? Why didn't you wait for me to wake up Whiskey Peak before we set off?"

"Oh right, you don't know do you?"

"Know what?"

Naruto sighed before he began explaining to her that Whiskey Peak was anything but a hospitable town. He told her about how in fact, the entire town welcomed and feasted pirates because it would result in them getting drunk and sleepy and thus making it easier for them to capture them for their bounties.

He also told her about how the situation with the Nefertari Vivi, the princess of the Kingdom of Alabasta and the fact that they have her royal bodyguard with them aboard the ship, whilst the princess herself was with Luffy and the others who were protecting her as they made their way to her desert country.

Nojiko took this all in before sighing, "I thought that place was too good to be true."

Naruto nodded before realising he had nearly forgot telling Nojiko another nugget or nuggets of information, "Oh yeah, Miss Valentine is actually our prisoner. She also happens to be working for the secret organisation that is trying to take over Vivi-hime's country. Baroque Works. That's what it's called." He paused for a moment, "And apparently, according to Kono, since we know their boss' secret identity, they will be coming after us to kill us."

The blue haired navigator looked at Naruto for a moment, "...Huh?"

Her captain nodded his head, "Yeah. We have a secret organisation after our ass. That's why when that Igaram guy get's of his lazy ass, he can take us to Alabasta so I can kick this Shichibukai guy's ass. Cutting of the head of the snake and all."

"Stop." The navigator said with a hand held up, "I'm sorry, I thought I misheard you, but did you just say Shichibukai?"

"Yeah."

"We are going to be fighting against a Shichibukai?"

"Seems like it."

Nojiko had heard all she could. She rose from her seat, "Okay, I'm going to go back into my nicely darkened room, throw myself onto my bed and scream into my pillow. I hope you are happy with yourself." She said as she turned around and made her way towards the lower decks, all the while wanting to cry. The only good thing she could see from this was the fact that at least when they died fighting against this Shichibukai, she would die with Nami as well.

For Nojiko really doubted that Luffy would just leave Alabasta after dropping the princess of. She just knew that he would be able to somehow find himself smack dab in the middle of the country's problems.

Alone again, Naruto went back to his training of mastering the Hiraishin. Naruto didn't particularly want to master it for its combat use, although it would be rather handy to have. He wanted to master it because it made travelling long distances relatively easier than before.

For example, if he wanted to go back to Konoha right now, he would have to be reverse summoned to Mt. Myoboku and then from there, be reverse summoned once more to Konoha. Although, that would most likely be a one way trip unless he left a toad behind to reverse summon him once more after he had finished everything.

From what he could understand, from the times he had used it. The jutsu worked by sending the user into a dimensional void that would then instantaneously transport them to the location of the seal they marked. And that was the most basic rendering he could understand. The rest was rather complicated stuff that Naruto wouldn't be ashamed to admit that made no sense to him.

Kakashi had praised him at his speed of learning the jutsu as quickly as he had done, through the use of clones, but it was still difficult and slow going.

Miss Valentine soon made appearance from the lower decks. It was to her understanding that she was a prisoner of the man known as 'The Calamity'...yet she had free reign on the ship. She could go wherever she pleased and do whatever she pleased. She didn't even have anyone watch her to make sure she didn't do anything funny.

All in all, it was rather the strangest prisoner experience she had ever come to be in...not that she had been in many such cases.

After having seen Naruto clone himself the previous night when they had set sail away from Whiskey Peak, she wasn't really surprised when she came to the sight of multiple copies of the same man running around doing one task or another. It still surprised her, but the shock value had decreased with time.

She made her way to the only blonde that wasn't doing anything, but was just sitting down in the middle of the deck. Well, it was doing nothing before said blonde vanished from her sight in an instant before reappearing further down the ship.

"YATTA!" Miss Valentine cocked her head to the side when she saw the blonde that had vanished and then reappeared start dancing within what looked like to be a circle and around a three pronged knife or so stuck into the deck, "Yes! Progress! I didn't land out of the circle or crash into anything!" He seemed rather pleased with himself.

Of course that was until one of the copies said something that dampened his spirits, "Ah, boss, you do realise you _barely_ landed in the circle right? That and the fact that your success rate in landing in the circle is like once every eight times...and I'm being optimistic with those chances. They might even be higher."

The boss stopped dancing and gave his clone a deadpan look. He pointed at it, "You. You're fired." And promptly dispelled it. The only evidence of its existence being a plume of smoke.

Miss Valentine walked towards him with an amused smile on his face, "I wasn't aware you can fire yourself."

Naruto turned to look at her as she approached, "Well, you just learned something new then. So how are you feeling with everything?"

Miss Valentine looked at him strangely, "You are worried about your prisoner's feelings? I have to say, you are the strangest pirate that I have ever met."

"Not a pirate." Naruto said, a hand and finger raised to further accentuate his statement.

"Then what are you?"

"An adventurer."

Miss Valentine sweat-dropped, "I fail to see the difference."

Naruto was more than willing to show her the difference, "A pirate is someone who actively takes part in piracy which is the act and practice of attacking and robbing ships at sea. An adventurer is someone who takes part in an unusual and exciting or daring experience. Difference."

The woman with the fascination for the colour yellow and lemons could only laugh, "Kyahaha, you do realise that some people view pirates as adventurers? Even pirates view themselves as such. You are not really proving anything."

Naruto had his arms crossed, "Not a pirate. I don't even have a jolly roger." That was the symbol of being a pirate. Every pirate had one. He didn't.

"Okay then, so you are a Peace Main then." Miss Valentine said as she settled on the subject.

"I have no idea what that is."

"It's a type of pirate."

"I'm starting to think you are just putting pirate and me in the same sentence to just make me annoyed."

She eventually backed off, "Sorry, sorry." She said, holding her hands up. She changed the subject to the original question that had been asked of her, "And if you must know, I'm holding quite well for someone that is now marked for death by the former organisation that she worked for." For something that was entirely not her fault! Even thinking about it now, especially the reason for why she was marked for death (Nefertari Vivi) it still annoyed her. But of course, this being her, she didn't show her annoyance.

"I'm surprised you haven't tried to escape yet." Naruto said out of the blue, "You can fly can't you?"

"Float actually." The cheerful blonde replied. She was feeling the heat of the sun, so she took out her parasol, "And where would I go? You heard me last night, strength in numbers." She could take care of herself against the lower ranked agents, but if they were ever to come in numbers, she couldn't help but think that someone who could multiply himself would come very handy, "So where exactly are we going?"

Naruto gave a careless shrug, "No idea. We're just cruising on the open seas. Going wherever the wind takes us."

Miss Valentine could have actually hit him then and there, "Are you an idiot?" She asked, her voice a tremble.

"No, but I have been called that quite a number of times."

"I can see why!" She snapped at him, "Where's your navigator!?"

"In her room, sleeping. She's got a hangover, see." Naruto didn't think he had seen Miss Valentine move so fast in the time he had known her, "Wonder what the fuss is about." He mumbled as he made his way back to his starting position. He noticed Silk, Konohamaru and a still in drag Igaram appear come out to the deck, "What time do you call this? It's well after noon and you're just waking up now."

Konohamaru bit back a yawn, "Hey, I was up till late last night. I was helping man the ship too you know." He then thumbed in Igaram's direction, "Oh yeah, he's awake now. Deal with him. I'm going to train." With that, he made his way towards the more spacious stern of the ship.

"Try not to destroy the clone manning the wheel!" Naruto yelled after him. He saw Silk move to follow after Konohamaru and train with him, "Oh right, nearly forgot about this." He quickly put his hands together into a ram seal and enjoyed the sight of Silk suddenly sagging and have difficulty to move.

"Oh come on!" The female swordsman yelled, "I just got used to the previous level! I hate you Naruto!"

"It's actually, 'I hate you Naruto-sensei!'. Get it right Silk-chan!"

Silk grumbled as she trudged her way up the stairs to the stern, "I'll find a way to pay you back for this. I definitely will."

Naruto could only smirk, "You are a hundred years too early." He then turned his attention towards Igaram, "...Why the hell are you still in drag? I'm sure we have clothes for men on the ship."

From the door that led to the lower decks, Nojiko shot out at speed, in her hands various navigating tools for her to use, all the whilst cursing Naruto out as she headed for the wheel, "You were just 'cruising'!? Naruto-kun, are you an idiot!?" She shouted as she practically dispelled the clone that was at the wheel with a rough shove that knocked it to the ground hard.

She continued cursing him out as she checked their position and shouted out orders to his clones. Naruto just ignored all that as he looked at Igaram, "So yeah, where were we?"

Igaram took a moment to get himself composed and come back down to earth after seeing all the blondes scurrying around, being ordered too by a very irate female, "You are an ability user?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's go with that." People were going to continue mistaking him for someone who had eaten a Devil Fruit. He had given up on correcting them, "So how can I be of service Mr. 8, Igarappoi, Igaram or whatever you call yourself."

"Igaram." The royal guard captain told him. He cleared his throat, "I would like to hire your ship for passage to Alabasta if at all possible."

Well he was straight to the point and didn't dally with the chit chat. Naruto was starting to think he would get along well with the man, "Well, I was actually planning on going there myself. You know, to see the sights. Problem is, we don't know how to get there and I'm pretty sure a Log Pose is random in how it does things." The man in drag pulled out what looked like to be an hour-glass like figure from his clothes with an orb in the middle and a needle floating inside, "That's a funky looking Log Pose."

"Eternal Pose." Igaram corrected with a cough, "It's actually called an Eternal Pose. But much like the Log Pose, it records the special magnetic waves of a particular place, but unlike the Log Pose, it doesn't reset after having recorded the island's magnetic waves."

Naruto squinted his eyes as he looked over the Eternal Pose, "Neat."

"Very so. This particular one has recorded the magnetic waves of Alabasta. So if you would mind sir, give this to your navigator and we would be on our way."

Naruto looked away from Igaram and his Eternal Pose and then in the direction of Nojiko who was still very much angry by the looks of it. Didn't she also have a hang-over? "Yeah...I'm not going near that for a while. I know better."

Igaram looked at him before nodding his head, "I shall do it myself then." Before going towards her, he turned to ask Naruto a question about someone. He was rather ashamed with himself that he hadn't asked earlier, "Princess Vivi! I must know, did she get away?"

"Oh she's fine." Naruto said with a wave of the hand, "She left with Luffy and the Strawhats. I'm sure from watching Zoro go around kicking your entire towns asses, they are rather a tough bunch." He scratched the back of his head in thought, "I think our ships are about the same in terms of speed. I can make it faster, so if we heard for Alabasta now, we'll probably arrive at the same time, or there abouts." He finished with a shrug, "Don't know though, ships aren't really my thing."

Igaram couldn't help but stare at Naruto and the blonde found himself fidgeting underneath the gaze, "I can tell." The captain of the Royal Guards finally said. He turned on his feel and made his way towards the wheel where Nojiko was located, "I pity your crew."

"Hey!" Naruto shouted after the man, "What the fuck man? You don't just say that after asking for our help!"

Nojiko was of a different mind, "Shut up Naruto-kun! He's right!"

Naruto threw his hands into the air and went back to his training, "Seriously, everyone is against me today. Maybe it's the alcohol. I should impose a no drinking on the ship. That sounds like a good idea."

That sounded like a good idea and Naruto was an idea man. Most of the time, ninety-nine percent of the time, his ideas were genius and always worked. He was sure the others would like the idea as well when he brought it up with them.

'_Actually, wait a second, who actively drinks on the ship anyway?' _He certainly didn't. He drank for the occasion yes, but that was about it. Konohamaru and the others also drank for the occasion, if the parties at Commi Island and the whole feast at Cactus Island and Whiskey Peak was any indication. No-one actually drank for the sake of drinking, '_Well, that goes that idea.'_

XxX

(Drum Kingdom - Grand Line)

"Oh man, I'm going to freeze. I just know it." Suigetsu muttered as he shivered where he stood, despite the fact that he was wrapped up in warm clothing.

"Good then maybe we'll be free of you at last." She snapped at him in a vicious tone, "Stop complaining, even we're cold too. Especially Sasuke-kun!" Her tone changed as she pointed in the direction of Sasuke who was standing at the forecastle of the Marine ship they had stolen way back in Loguetown.

Suigetsu turned his attention away from the annoying woman. He began to make his way towards the forecastle where Sasuke was standing. Jugo was located in the crow's nest up high. The position as look-out rather suited him considering he had the next best eye sight behind Sasuke, that and the fact that he could call down any birds that passed to learn of anything new.

As he neared the forecastle, he could see what looked like to be what looked like mountains in the shapes of drums. He whistled at the sight, "Man, the world is strange." And he wasn't joking. An entire continent that wrapped around the world in a ring? Yeah, that was strange and he wasn't even going to touch the freaky weather of this place, "So what's this place called anyway?"

"The Drum Kingdom." Sasuke answered and like the rest of them apart from Jugo, they were dressed in winter clothes. Jugo didn't need such clothes as his body constantly absorbed Sage Chakra to continuously keep him warm.

Suigetsu laughed, "What an original name. I wonder why they named it as such." He leaned forward on the gunwale of the forecastle, looking ahead in the distance, "So anyway, if you don't mind me asking, what are we doing?" He would admit that he had been enticed at the prospect of travelling and seeing the world, maybe even find someone strong enough to fight against, but as of now? He was just plain bored.

"Searching for answers."

Sasuke being a cryptic bastard was always rather annoying, "Answers to what questions exactly? That's what I want to know."

Sasuke turned away from the forecastle and began to walk away, "I'll tell you when I find out the answers." Sometimes, he forgot that Suigetsu and everybody else had been trapped within the Infinite Tsukuyomi and thus didn't have the chance to learn what he, Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi knew about Otsutsuki Kaguya and the supposed true use of the White Zetsus.

He didn't particularly like to keep this information hidden from the others, but he thought that it was best as of yet to keep said information to himself, '_I'll tell them in the future. When the times right.'_ They at least deserved that much, after everything they went through during his youth. And for following all the way out here at his request, although he had a harder time getting Suigetsu from the Mizukage than anything else.

If Sasuke didn't know any better, he was sure that the Mizukage had propositioned him...but that would have just been silly. She was just naturally flirty, nothing more, nothing less.

"Karin, Jugo, we are nearing land." He told them, "We don't know what to expect, so make sure you are prepared for anything." The first island they had come to had been inhabited completely by violent animals that seemed to like having a go at him and the others.

"You don't need to tell me twice." Karin said with a shiver from a memory. She still recalled very clearly nearly being swallowed whole by an entire snake. That was something she didn't want to repeat.

At the thought of the new island, Karin wondered how long it'll take for their Log Pose to reset. If it took a couple of days like the last island...she giggled as images and thoughts came to mind that mostly included her and Sasuke.

Suigetsu saw the smile on Karin's face and the dribble. He raised an eyebrow, "He tries to kill you and you still want to jump his bones. I have half a mind to call you insane."

Karin's reaction was the usual as she punched him in the face, turning his head into water, "Shut up Suigetsu! You know nothing!"

The ninja swordsman head reformed from the liquid form that it had been rendered into. An eyebrow was ticking when his head returned to it's original form, "Seriously, don't do that. Who knows if I won't be able to reform afterwards." He didn't want any part of his liquefied form turning into ice just because of cold temperatures.

XxX

Sasuke's Sharingan was out and spinning, "Few out whatever forms you have too. As far as you are concerned, we are nothing more than ordinary Marines just passing through."

The port official had a hazy look in his eyes as he wrote into his books, "As you say." He said, his voice slow and distant, as if he wasn't truly there. Most likely because he wasn't. Sasuke had just hypnotised the man.

Sasuke gave a small, barely noticeable nod before walking past him, his three companions in toll. As he walked passed, Suigetsu couldn't help but wave a hand in front of the official who was still writing away in his ledger. He laughed, "Sometimes, that eye of yours makes everything too easy and boring."

Karin pushed up her glasses as they walked up a snow covered hill as they walked in the direction of the town the official had directed them in, "Well, it's not like we are trying to attract attention."

"No, that's Naruto's job." Sasuke said.

Having known Naruto since they were children, Sasuke knew how Naruto worked. Despite being older and more wizened than he was back when they were young, Naruto was still loud and bashful to a fault, although that had been toned down over the years, thank god.

When Naruto had first approached him about his mission, Sasuke knew that they couldn't exactly accept. He liked to do things quietly, Naruto wasn't much of that course of action, even if he was more than capable of It.

That's why Sasuke had resorted to using Naruto as a smoke screen. His old teammate was sure to cause mayhem and mischief as he travelled along the Grand Line, attracting whatever attention to him and his companions, all the while leaving no-one to notice the other group of people from the Elemental Nations to work quietly and unfettered. That was as long as they didn't attract unnecessary attention to themselves.

Although he sometimes did wonder how or in what way will Naruto's wanted status affect the Elemental Nations if they ever decided to make contact with the World Government in the future. Naruto was a hero, more so than him and even if he wasn't, the Elemental Nations and Konoha in general would never give him up if the World Government was to ever ask for him to answer for his crimes.

'_Killing Marines?'_ He should have asked Naruto about that. Naruto was never one to resort to killing someone unless he had to or when the blood was in him. He never did have the same level of control of his emotions that he had.

Well, when they met again in the future, he would have to try and give him some do's and don'ts when it comes to what he could and couldn't do. Just to stop him from causing even more trouble for the Elemental Nations in the future.

"What the hell is that?" Suigetsu asked out of the blue.

Sasuke looked ahead and saw what seemed to be a bear making it's way down the hill. Well, Sasuke thought it was a bear, he had just never met a bear that was bipedal or used what looked like to be a walking stick.

"It's obvious isn't It?" Karin said, as she looked at the approaching animal, "It's a bear."

"And it's _walking." _Suigetsu said, "On _two_ legs. Let's not forget that."

"You always did have a gift for the bloody obvious Suigetsu." The bear was about to pass them. Karin looked in the direction of Jugo and spoke, "You better be ready to talk down that bear in case things go south."

Suigetsu had a blood thirsty grin on his face, "And here I was looking forward to making myself a coat made from a bear's fur." His hand was itching to go to the Kubikiribocho that was on his back.

Jugo moved ahead of them, his expression a visage of calm, "I'll talk to It."

The others watched as he came to a stop with the bear and began to converse with the walking bear. The two seemed to have hit off an animated conversation before Jugo bowed his head and the bear did the same before continuing on it's way.

Karin watched the bear walk past them, bowing it's head slightly at them. She looked strangely at Jugo, "What was that about?"

"It's a hiking bear." Jugo replied, "It was merely taking it's daily hike. They're harmless as long as one remembers their hiking etiquette. I explained our situation of being new here, so he let us off."

Suigetsu just had a blank expression on his face, "A hiking bear? What the fuck? You know what? I don't even care anymore. I'm not going to be surprised any more than I have to be."

"I can't believe I'm actually going to be agreeing with you this time." Karin said, looking in the direction the bear had walked of in.

Sasuke resumed walking in the direction of the town, "Come on, it's getting late. We need to find an inn or a hotel for us to stay in."

Suigetsu chuckled as he followed not long after, "If by any chance you feel cold Sasuke, be sure to tell Karin. I'm sure she wouldn't mind _warming_ you right up."

Suigetsu didn't mind the punch from Karin afterwards. As far as he was concerned, it was worth it.

***BOOM!***

The group stopped at the sound of an explosion. They looked ahead of them and saw what looked like to be smoke coming from the direction they were heading in. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the explosion most likely happened in the town they were heading in.

"What the hell?" Suigetsu let out, an eyebrow raised in confusion, "What's going on up there?"

"Maybe an accident?" Karin suggested before another explosion rang out from the town ahead of them. Another pillar of smoke soon joined the one that had already been rising into the sky, "Okay, maybe not an accident. What should we do Sasuke?" She asked as she looked at their leader.

Sasuke eyes had narrowed somewhat as he looked ahead of him, especially at the pillars of smoke that had been joined by several more pillars of smoke after even more explosions. A wind blew in their direction and with it, came the screams that were being carried upon it.

He placed a hand on the Kusanagi blade, "Come on. Let's see what's happening." He said as he quickly took off. It wasn't as if they could turn and leave anyway. They had to wait for their Log Pose to reset before leaving.

Suigetsu grinned in a feral as he quickly followed suit, "Finally, something to do!" Jugo and Karin followed as well, but neither had any words to say.

It didn't take long for the group of shinobi to clear the hill and enter the town. They were met with the sight of a burning buildings that were painted in a burning orange and red colour from the flames. The smell of smoke and ash and blood and burning flesh was soon to hit their noses. It was finally followed by the sounds of screaming and crying and finally the sounds of laughter.

"Zehahaha! If you want someone to blame for what's happening today, blame fate!"

Suigetsu already had a hand on Kubikiribocho. He didn't even look at Sasuke as he spoke, "I take it we stop that guy and anyone else who are destroying this place."

Sasuke gave an imperceptible nod of the head before all four of them went of to find the source of the voice. It didn't take them long, all they had to do was follow the laughing and the sounds of destruction.

The group of four finally found themselves standing in front of five men who seemed responsible for the damage that was happening in the town. A middle-aged man with a massive build, big mouth with several missing teeth, a pronounced crooked nose stepped, long, curly black hair that fel to the back of his neck and a scruffy black beard that grows around his jawline stepped forward after seeing the four of them appear in front of him and his companions, "Zehaha, what's this? Come to play heroes have you? Don't you know who we are little boys and girls?"

Suigetsu had a grin on his face, "Can't say we do."

The man didn't seem to take offence as he laughed, "Zehaha! I suppose not. We still haven't made a name for ourselves." He had a dark grin on his face as he looked down at the four of them, "But as you can see, we're making a change of that." He finished as he panned the area around them.

Suigetsu pulled the Kubikibocho from out of it's sheath and held it out in front of him. Having had more years to fight with the sword and train himself, he could now wield it without having to use his Kekkei Genkai to increase his arms strength. Sasuke looked at the devastation around him, his eyes panning back and forth. He then locked them onto the dark haired man, "I'll give you one chance, leave now and you won't regret it."

The man laughed and so did his companions, "I like your spunk brat. What's your name?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

The dark haired pirate held out his hand, palm open, "Marshall D. Teach, but people just call me Blackbeard. Now come here brat," A black smoke like substance started swirling in a spiral around the palm of the hand, "Kurouzu (Dark Waters)!"

The moment the smoke like substance had appeared, every member of Sasuke's team had been ready for some kind of attack. Sasuke was especially surprised when he found himself being pulled towards the outstretched arm of the man who had introduced himself as Blackbeard.

"Sasuke-kun!" Karin shouted out after him.

'_Is that how he wants to play it? Two can play that game.'_ Sasuke thought as he neared Blackbeard. Sasuke almost found it amusing to show the man that he wasn't the only man capable of attracting people towards him, but instead of attracting Blackbeard towards Sasuke, he was going to repel him. In his left eye, his Rinnegan shimmered in the burning orange light. He held out a hand, "Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God)!"

Blackbeard had been laughing and waiting in preparation to grab the upstart in front of him with his power and then kill him with a punch to the neck with enough force to break it. What he certainly was not expecting was to find himself at the receiving end of some kind of brute force that sent him flying into a building, making it become nothing more than rubble.

"Captain!" The other Blackbeard pirate crew members cried out when they saw him get sent flying and crash into the building.

With his attack, Sasuke was able to stop the attracting force of Blackbeard. He landed in a skid and crouched down low, "Karin, put up a barrier around yourself. Suigetsu, Jugo, you are with me."

Suigetsu advanced with a smile on his face, "Three against five eh? My kind of odds." Jugo merely pulled away the large cloak he was wearing to the side lest it get damaged in the ensuing fight.

From the tenketsu points in her back, several chains made out chakra burst out and made a half dome around her. Although she didn't like being put to the side lines, Karin definitely knew where her strengths lay, and they were not in direct combat. That didn't mean she couldn't provide support whenever she could. In preparation, she directed some chakra into the tenketsu in her feet and began forming more chains.

Blackbeard burst out from the rubble that had been of his creation, "Zehaha, look here boys. It seems these brats know how to fight." His toothy grin was absolutely menacing and dark, "Let's show them how far outmatched they are."

The Kubikiribocho was held out in front of him at the ready. The Hozuki clan scion smiled dangerously at the group of pirates, "I think it's _you_ guys who are outmatched."

Blackbeard strode forth confidently, "Zehaha, we'll see!"

* * *

**AN: I admit, I'm on a One Piece hype. I can't help it. It'll fade soon enough, until that time, I hope you enjoy yet another chapter so soon after the last one.**

**Ah yeah, I know canon made it so that the Blackbeard pirate attack on Drum Island happened half a year before Luffy and company appeared, I just moved them up to be a little bit more recent and since that part is being viewed by different characters, consider it happening in the past to Naruto's own narration. **

**Sort of like how GRRM does it with his POVs in ASOIAF series.**

**Hope you don't mind.**

**Later,**

**Raidensokwl**


	7. Beating Drums

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece_

* * *

Beating Drums

As Sasuke stood there, amidst the burning ruins that was a town as the snow fell, he couldn't help but ask why he had involved himself in a matter that really didn't concern him at all. It would have been easy for him to just close his eyes to the entire burning and destruction of the town as it had nothing to do with him at all.

He reasoned with himself that if he had done that, he would have, for the better lack of a term had just screwed himself and the others over. They would have had to sleep on the ship and Sasuke had by now had his fair share of sleeping on a ship. Why was the world compromised mostly of islands? He didn't like it one bit.

He had come to find himself relishing the prospect of setting his feet on cold, hard, ground whenever they made port, the more he travelled the world.

Eventually, he reasoned to himself that saving the town and the towns people in general was out of necessity. They had food, shelter and potential information he could learn and use. Maybe they would be even greatful enough that they would let him and the rest of Taka receive full supplies.

He certainly didn't jump in to save them out of some hero complex. That was Naruto's thing.

Sasuke's eyes caught movement before he quickly moved his head to the side. He felt air rush past him from the bullet that had been fired at him, "You missed." He stated simply as he looked at the man who had fired the bullet.

The man who fired the gun lowered his rifle with a calm smile on his face, "I'm surprised you were able to dodge my attack. Not many can see it coming." The man was rather thin with an abnormal heigh, with light brown hair that fell down to his lower neck. He wore strange glasses with the left lengs being normal and rectangular in shape whilst the right was circular and had what looked like to be a crosshair in it. He wore a black hat that potruded out to the sides, a long black cape and underneath it, a button up, pale lavender shirt with loose sleeves and simple black pants and shoes. The man still had a smile on his face, "Shame about your two friends. They weren't fast enough."

"You think so do you?" Sasuke returned. A simple bullet wasn't enough to take Jugo and Suigetsu. Karin was safe behind her barrier, so he clearly meant those two.

Judging by the man's slightly annoyed look as he looked past him, he must have noticed that Suigetsu and Jugo were not as dead as he thought they would be. Suigetsu's head reformed from it's liquid state with an annoyed expression. He pointed at the sniper with the Kubikiribocho, "You. I'm going to cut off both those spindly arms of yours." From beside him, Jugo was bleeding from a cut on the side of his face where the bullet had grazed him. He had been able to move his head in the nick of time.

A frown came across the bespectacled man's face as he looked at Suigetsu, "A logia? How troublesome." That was the simple conclusion he could come to. The pale haired swordsman had reformed his head after having a bullet through it. Only logias had that sort of ability.

Suigetsu gripped at the hilt of the Kubikiribocho and drew it back behind him, ready to move, "Alright, enough of the chatter. Let's start fighting." He used Shunshin for a burst of speed to appear in front of the sniper who had taken a short at him and swung his sword aimed at his head, aiming to decapitate him.

The sniper proved to be no slow coach when it came to close combat as he was able to roll out of the way of Suigetsu's surprise attack despite the fact that he had been surprised by the show of speed that he had been made witness to. He quickly brought up his rifle and fired several bullets, which all hit Suigetsu but did nothing other than go through him.

Despite his attacks seemingly having no effect on his opponent, he didn't seem nonplussed about his situation, "You'll be a difficult opponent."

"And you'll be very dead soon enoug-." Suigetsu was cut short from completing his sentence when he found his body get smashed into it's liquid form by a shoulder charge.

The shoulder charge was courtesy from a unusually big, tanned man who was both broad in terms of chest and shoulders and upperbody with a thin waist and lowerbody in comparison to his lowerbody. He had curly violet hair reaching down to his shoulders and wore a strange mask with orange decorations that revealed his eyes and nose. He wore a sleeveless black shirt and a pair of white pants with ruffles on them coming from the base and reaching the back of his knees. He finished his look with a rather strange and ornamental looking belt across his waist.

The man wiped at his damp shoulder before looking down at the liquid mess that was Suigetsu, "What's this, water? I didn't know there was such a Devil Fruit."

Suigetsu drifted away from the group in his liquid form, dragging the Kubiribocho whilst he was at It. When he reached the side of Sasuke, he started congealing and reforming his body. He had something of an irritated expression on his face when he reformed himself, "Cutting me of whilst in the middle of something." He grumbled to himself as he glared at the mask wearing pirate, "I'll kill him first."

The violet haired man had a large grin on his face that made all of his teeth visible as he gave a challenging look in Suigetsu's direction, "You can try."

Van Augur came to the side of the mask wearing man, his rifle resting on his shoulder. He adjusted his strange glasses with his free hand, "He's a Lorgia type Burgess. Only the captain we'll be able to fight him. It seems we shall have to take care of the re-."

"Katon: Goukakryu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu)!"

The entirety of the Blackbeard pirates quickly had to find themselves having to move from their immediate positions as a massive orb of roaring flame, nearly the entire width of the street they were standing in bared down on them, roaring all the while.

Van Augur landed on a nearby roof top and looked at the trail of destruction as the fireball crashed into the distance, in the outskirts of the town. He shook his head, "No patience at all." He reared his gun and fired several bullets at an advancing shadow. He smiled calmly when he saw his opponent, "The Logia type eh?" He said as he looked at Suigetsu, water forming around the bullet holes that had been put into him, "Well, I suppose this encounter is another one of fate's many crossroads."

The Kubikiribocho was held in front of him, "To bad you won't be surviving this encounter." Suigetsu said, a smirk on his face.

Van Augur levelled his rifle at his opponent, "That is for fate to decide."

XxX

Burgess burst out from the window of a nearby building. When he landed in the street he looked around and noticed the scotched trail of destruction the fireball had left when it had been sent in their direction, "That was close. That could have ended badly." He said before slowly allowing a large grin to spread across his face and he started to laugh, "Wiiiihahaha! Who knew we would come across strong people this early in the Grand Line!" He could see them offering to be a worthy challenge for him to test out his skills and prove him the strongest there is.

He immediatetly started looking around for the presences of the four young adults that had challenged their crew. He wanted to fight the one with the black hair with the weird left eye. The one with the pale blue hair was someone he couldn't fight yet. How would he win if he couldn't lay a finger on him? But then, there was also the one with the orange hair that was standing in the back. He looked strong and powerful. He couldn't really careless about the girl in that strange dome of hers.

His eyes then stopped when he found someone to fight. It wasn't exactly who he wanted to fight, but it was close enough. If his grin could get any larger, it would have but it didn't, "So what do I call you?" He asked at his opponent. It was the least bit of courtesy he could give his opponent who was going to be another scalp in his chest full of scalps that he had collected over the years.

"Jugo." The oranged haired young man replied evenly. Half his face was being encroached by something was turning his skin grey and one of his eyes into a sickly amber/yellow colour with the scelera black. A breeze of wind swept through the area to flutter his cloak about, revealing that one of his arms had transformed into an ugly, bulky and grey form with a piston at the elbow.

Burgess' eyes narrowed in anticipitation of the incoming fight, "What? Does everyone in your little group have a power? Doesn't anybody know how to fight without them?" It didn't matter to him anyhow. A fight was still afoot and this boy looked like he would be able to give him one.

Jugo didn't deign to reply, instead he leapt at Burgess, arm drawn back for a punch. Any other day, Burgess would have taken the punch just to prove that he could blow It, but he had seen the piston at the end of the elbow. He loved to fight, but that did not mean he would take unnecessary risks when it came to his passion.

When Jugo came down, throwing his punch, the large man leapt away in avoidance and Jugo ended up punching the ground. His punch was hard enough to shatter the ground and cause a small crater to form and that was before the piston came down to extend the size of the crater.

Jesus Burgess saw the damage that was done and instead of being at all freaked out or wary of the potential damage that could be inflicted on him by a single punch, only grinned some more. This was going to be an interesting fight, he could just feel it. He thumbed at his chest, "Jesus 'Champion' Burgess, boy! I am the Champion! Come and try doing your worst!"

He turned around and dug his hands into the foundations of the building that he had leapt away from. With seemingly little effort on his part, he picked up the entire building before turning around and hurling it at Jugo over the head style.

'_What strength...' _This was definitely the first time Jugo had come across anyone ripping a house from it's foundations and using it as a throwing weapon. He quickly pulled up his arm and drew it back for a punch and waited for the building to come closer before throwing his punch and his piston slamming down the moment contact was made.

The building was blown to smithereens by the force of the blow and all that was left of it was debris falling harmlessly around him that included the building itself and the furniture that had been inside the building. Moving his way out of a sofa that had come his way, Jugo found himself getting caught flush in the face from a punch coming from his opponent.

He was sent crashing a fair distance away before coming to a slow halt. He got up to his feet. Feeling something run down his lip, he wiped at his mouth with his untransformed arm and noticed the blood. He had been punched in the part of his face were his partial Sage Transformation had been active. Once again, that was some strength.

From his crouched position, he rose to his feet, "Seems like this is going to be a rather difficult fight." He frowned slightly at what he said, "I might not end up being able to control myself sooner or later."

Jesus Burgess strode forth. He still had that same large, toothy grin on his face, "Wiiihahaha! Not many people are able to stand up after taking one of my punches. Let's see who's the strongest out of the two of us."

By now, more than half of Jugo's face was greyish in colour, "If you insist." He returned evenly before charging at Jesus Burgess.

His opponent was more than willing to meet him as he also ran forward to start the clash of strength.

XxX

"You have some strong spirit in you. I can feel it." Blackbeard commented as the black smoke like substance spread out from his body. He laughed as he held out his hands beside him, "It would be a shame to kill you. So how about you join my crew instead?"

Sasuke stood in front of the man, his face masking whatever thoughts he was thinking. He looked at the black smoke that was coming from Blackbeard's body before looking back at the man and replied to the question that had been directed at him, "No thanks. I'm not a pirate." He was many things, a pirate he was not.

"Zehaha! A shame then." Some small amount of the black smoke coming of Blackbeard's body started congealing around his hands, turning them black, "But it seems like you made a mistake today. You should never have involved yourself in this. I can't be killed, for I am dark-Gaah!" He stopped talking suddenly and instead cried out in pain as Sasuke appeared behind him, his chokuto drawn out.

The wandering ninja turned aroun, an aloof look in both his eyes as the area was bathed in the burning orange and red light of the town on fire, "You talk too much." He doubted even Naruto spoke as much as this man did.

Blackbeard rolled around on the ground clutching at his cuts, "Shit! Shit! _Shit!"_ He cursed before stopping and getting back up to his feet. He looked at Sasuke with his eyes narrowed, "Pretty fast aren't you? Well, we'll have to change that, Burrakku Horu (Black Hole)!" He slammed one of his blackened hands onto the ground underneath him and from the point of contact, the black smoke like substance spread out from his hand in the direction of Sasuke, covering the entire street they were standing on.

Sasuke jumped away from the attack aiming for a nearby rooftop. Blackbeard laughed, "Zehaha! That won't help you!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in curiosity before he once again found himself being drawn towards something. Previously, it had been Blackbeard himself, but from the looks of it this time, it seemed that he was being drawn towards the blackened area of the street, "Shit." A quick use of a Kawarimi with a nearby piece of debris saved Sasuke from being pulled into the attack.

He reappeared on a nearby rooftop and looked down at the scene below him as various debris that had been littering the street were pulled and absorbed into the black smoke, '_He can do something with gravity.' _He finally surmised. It seemed whatever Devil Fruit Blackbeard had ate, allowed him to manipulate gravity just like how he could manipulate attracting and repulsing forces through the Deva Path, '_By the looks of it, his range is limited to where the smoke can touch.'_

Blackbeard was laughing as he lifted his hand from the ground. He looked up at Sasuke, a large open mouth smile was on his face that showed all of his missing teeth, "How do you like the power of Darkness? This is the power of the Logia, Yami-Yami no Mi, I've become a man of darkness!"

'_He likes to run his mouth doesn't he?' _It was as if he was looking at an older and far more gone Naruto. At least Naruto had the capacity not to run his mouth like he usually did. Comparisons aside, Sasuke was frowning inside.

Blackbeard had said he had eaten one of these Devil Fruits that gave the people of the rest of the world powers. And not only had he eaten one, making this battle trouble, he had also eaten a Logia.

Now Sasuke had done as much homework as he could whilst travelling. He had gained as much information as he could from officials that seemed high enough up the chain to know what they would be talking about.

Of course, many of these officials didn't even know that they had divulged secrets or information to someone they most likely shouldn't have told thanks to the hypnotising effects of his Sharingan. One of the things that he had come to learn was that the Devil Fruits were split into three classes depending on what kind of ability they gave a person.

The most common were Paramecia types that gave people some kind of superhuman physical ability or trait of some kind. From what he learned, when one ate such a type of fruit, they would come to have an altered physique of some kind or change their surroundings according to the power and lastly generate some kind of substance.

The second type and less common than the Paramecia was the Zoan type. That one apparently allowed people to transform into an animal all the while gaining every trait associated with that animal. For example, if one was to acquire some kind of fruit that allowed them to transform into a cheetah, they would gain the physical traits of a cheetah. Apparently, they could also transform into a hybrid that was half human and the animal they could turn into.

The rarest of the three types of Devil Fruits was the Logia type. Apparently, this type of Devil Fruit allowed people to turn into any kind of element. This class of fruit essentially allowed people to become intangible, making it difficult to hit them as they could simply allow the attacks through their bodies.

'_If that's the case, no wonder they thought Suigetsu was this Logia-type.' _Suigetsu's Kekkei Genkai could very well be mistaken for a Logia from what he had come to learn of these Devil Fruits. Having the ability to liquify himself and turn into water would very well be misleading to these people. Sasuke stopped for a moment as he looked down at Blackbeard and noticed the blood from the cuts he had given him, "You say you are a Logia, but I cut you." And he had pushed him back with Shinra Tensei. If he had truly eaten a Logia-type that would have allowed him to become darkness, then his attacks should have been easily avoided.

"Darkness has the power of gravitation. It draws and sucks in everything. Absolutely e_verything. _Bullets, blades, punches, fire, even thunder." The black smoke from his body continued to come of him like some kind of smog, "Unlike other types of Logias, I can't fend off attacks by turning into my element, and my body sucks in pain more than anything else!"

Sasuke was quiet as he took in everything the man was saying. If Blackbeard wanted to run his mouth and tell him everything about his ability, Sasuke wasn't so much as going to stop him. The more he knew of what he could do, the less he would have to worry about being blind sided by an attack he had no information about.

Blackbeard looked up at him, black eyes like coal burning in a fireplace due to the light from the town on fire, "You must be thinking what a shitty power aren't you, brat? Wrong. Apart from that one flaw, I have something else for people like you! Kurouzu (Dark Waters)!" A black hand outstretched once more, Sasuke found his body pulled towards Blackbeard.

'_Not this again!' _Sasuke thought as he flew through the air towards Blackbeard. He raised a hand before he reached Blackbeard to use Shinrai Tensei once more. He was surprised when all of a sudden, Blackbeard pulled out a pistol from his clothing and took aim.

Blackbeard dropped his technique lest he pull in the bullets he was going to fire back to him before firing his pistol several times at Sasuke with the same large, open mouthed smile on his face, "Zehaha, and that's that, brat!" He would have continued to laugh some more before Sasuke disappeared from sight in an instant, leaving only a crack of air as the only indication that he had been hurtling towards him just not long before, "Gah!"

Blackbeard cried out in pain as a sword pierced him from the back. He stumbled forward, pulling the sword out of him and clutched to his wound. He turned around quickly on his heel and glared at Sasuke who casually swung his chokuto to swipe away the blood on it, "Dammit! What was that? How can you disappear just like that? What kind of Devil Fruit did you eat?" The boy's abilities were starting to puzzle and infuriate him.

Apparently, he could push things away from without needing to touch them as shown when he pushed him away when Blackbeard had first used Kurouzu (Dark Waters) on him. Then he could also switch his location with something else that was in his surroundings and now he could vanish from mid-air? His abilities were mind boggling.

Sasuke had never eaten any fruit, but he wasn't about to tell Blackbeard that, "I don't have the time for this." He re-sheathed his Kusanagi blade back into its sheath beneath his poncho.

Blackbeard was not much of a prideful man. He had served underneath a remnant of an era for twenty years all the whilst bidding his time, knowing that if fortune favoured him, it would soon be _his _time. He had learned quickly in that position that being prideful would do nothing for him.

When he had been offered command of Whitebeard's Second Division, he had refused, ever playing the humble man. He had mostly refused because the position would have done nothing for him other than put more eyes on him as he searched for the Yami Yami no Mi. And anyway, the position would have restricted him in how he could move about.

It was better for him to just continue be just another ordinary member of the crew.

Blackbeard also knew that pride was before the fall. He wasn't ashamed at running away or pleading if the situation called for it, but there was just something about the way that the brat in front of him had dismissed him that galled at him.

The darkness smoke coming of Blackbeard's body started to quickly congeal above his head, "Ribereishon (Liberation)!" In one fluid motion, Blackbeard expelled all the remains of what Burakku Horu (Black Hole) had absorbed during his crew's rampage through the Drum Kingdom in the direction of Sasuke.

Sasuke found himself getting on his proverbial bike as he had to start moving to avoid the broken down remains of what looked like to be buildings and people being thrown at him. Whilst he was doing this, with his one good hand, he went through a set of hand signs before rushing towards Blackbeard.

Blackbeard saw him coming and drew back a hand ready to fire punch him into the ground and batter his body. What he didn't expect was Sasuke to hold out his hand that was seemingly crackling with electricity, "Chidori Eiso (One Thousand Birds Sharp Spear)!" Sasyke thrust out his hand a blade made up of the Chidori extended towards Blackbeard, aimed for his heart.

The captain of the Blackbeard pirates though wasn't so willing to come and meet the attack head on and tried to move out of the way, only getting pierced through the shoulder instead of the original target of attack which had been his heart, "Damn brat!" Blackbeard strained as he felt the blade pierce him and the numbness of his body as the electric discharge coursed through his body.

Sasuke frowned slightly at having missed his target and was about to alter the jutsus shape so that he could create multiple extra blades from the point of his attack to puncture Blackbeard some more. He only stopped from doing so when he saw something on the ground roll near him. He glanced down, "...An apple?"

***BOOM!***

XxX

"Dalton!" A woman dressed strangely called out as she moved towards an imposing man with slicked back black hair. She pushed her way through the people that were surrounding the man before coming to a stop in front of him, "Just what in the blue blazes is going o-." She stopped when she noticed the state of the man, "What the hell happened to you?"

Dalton wheezed as he looked up at the woman, "Doctor Kureha..." He panted out as blood poured down his face from several cuts on his head, "It's good to see you. I am in need of your help." Dalton wore a long, white fur-lined green tunic with armor plates on his arms with extra long boots.

The people around the man immediately began pleading with the doctor, "Please, I don't care if you are a witch, please save Dalton!"

The person who had unwittingly called her a witch found themselves getting punched a fair distance away from the group of people. She cast a long look around the group of people, "Anyone else?" They all shook their heads at the question, "That's what I thought." Doctor Kureha wore a short flower print shirt despite the prevalent cold that showed her midriff as well as the navel piercing she had, a purple blazer and hipster pants.

What was strange about the woman was the fact that her body seemed to belong to a shapely young woman whilst her face showed all the signs of advanced age.

Seeing that no-one was about to call her a derisive name, she laughed, "So...does anybody want to know the secret of eternal youth?"

"Now's not the time!"

"We didn't even ask!"

Dalton picked up his weapon, an extra long spade that had been sat beside him. He pushed it into the snowy ground beside him and tried to rise, "I have to go back and protect the town and kingdom from those pirates."

"Pirates?" Doctor Kureha repeated before looking past him into the distance where she could see a town on fire, "Pirates are the cause of this? I was wondering why it was so noisy. Anyway Dalton, where's that fool of a king? Or his army on that matter. Shouldn't they be sorting this out instead of one lone Royal Guard?"

Dalton had a grim look about him. His eyes were shadowed as he spoke, "King Wapol ran away with the entirety of the Kingdom's army when it became apparent the pirates were too powerful!" The thought actually ashamed him. He had been the only soldier to stay behind and try to save the country whilst his king and his fellow soldiers took off to the seas.

The strange doctor nodded her head gravely. She stroked her chin in thought, "So this means...that no-ones living in the castle now right? I'm sure Wapol wouldn't mind if I took it off his hands." And why would it matter? The selfish dolt wasn't even here anymore, so what could he say about her moving in?

"Is that all you care about!?" The towns people snapped at the doctor in unison. If that was what she did care about, then she truly deserved the title people gave her of 'witch'. To only care about a castle whilst a town burned and people died was just heartless and the sort of thing you would expect from such a creature.

Doctor Kureha waved her off, "Oh stop whining. Me and Chopper will heal anyone up who's injured." She looked around when she noticed that none of the villagers stepped forward or tried to direct her towards any of their injured. She crossed her arms, "Hm, what's wrong?"

"I think they are worried that you'll cause the injured more harm than actually help them." The imposing Dalton said, still breathing heavily, "Nonetheless, I wish you could look at them."

One of the towns people that had been looking in the direction of Big Horn noticed something that was off. The pirates had been making a steady trail of destruction from the far end of the town from where they had appeared, but all of a sudden, that trail of destruction had stopped. He pointed this out to the others around him.

The other villagers took note and looked back at the town. Mutterings of the reason why could soon be heard.

"Maybe they've left?"

"Whilst leaving half the village standing? I've never heard of pirates doing a half-assed job of pillaging and burning down a town or village before."

"Then what is it?"

Dalton looked in the direction of Big Horn before speaking up, "Does anyone have any binoculars?" Having a better view of what was happening in the town would make it far easier for people to know what was happening.

The former guard knew that his question was most likely absurd. He knew that when the attack happened, people were running for their lives and had little time to try and think of picking up some binoculars. Therefore, he was rather surprised when someone actually did step up and answer his question, "I do! I was on a hike when the entire thing started." The man already had his binoculars out and was looking in the direction of Big Horn.

"What's happening in the town as of now?" Dalton quickly asked. He tried to move next to the man, but his body nearly failed him.

Doctor Kureha shook her head, "I wouldn't be trying to move if I was you Dalton. Look at you, you're a mess. You'll only be making your wounds worse than they are as of now."

Dalton seemed to ignore the advice that had been given to him and slowly made his way towards the man. Some of the villagers stepped up to give him a helping hand. The hiker then started commenting from what he was seeing through the binoculars, "I don't believe this. I think the pirates are fighting against someone."

Well, as far as explaing as to why the pirates had stoppe destroying Big Horn, that was as good as a reason as any, "Someone?"

"A group of someones. I'm counting..." He trailed of for a moment as his head panned to the left and right as he took in the sights of the battles happening near the outskirts of Big Horn, "Four people that I have never seen before fighting against those pirates."

"How goes the battle?" That was the only question on Dalton's mind. He didn't know what it meant if these unknowns that were fighting won. Maybe they would also continue from where the pirates had left of. He clutched his weapon, '_No. At the end of it all, they maybe weakened enough for me or others to finish them of, if they prove to be pirates.'_

The hiker couldn't give an affirmative reply to the question, "It's too difficult to tell. I can't even follow most of their movements!"

XxX

(Suigetsu Vs Van Augur)

Suigetsu was the kind of person that was indifferent and aloof to many things. Unless some of those things included sword play and killing and fighting. Those kind of things got his blood pumping as it allowed him to test out his skills.

In fact, when he had seen the town burning when they made their way here, he had been excited for the prospect of a fight. They hadn't come across many people to fight whilst they had been traveling this place. The only things that he had been able to cut up were the rather strange, ridiculous large fish that occasionally tried to make a move on their boat.

So when Sasuke had decided to play hero and interject himself into this messy affair, he was all for it. Especially when it showed that these pirates had some skill or something of the likes when the guy with the rifle was able to dodge him when he made his attack.

Now Suigetsu knew that he wasn't the fastest of people, but dodging him? That took some skill. That's why he had gone after the guy with the rifle, because he had some skill and he would have made this fight pretty interesting.

Although in hindsight, the fact that he was holding a rifle should have been any indication into how he fought. That rifle of his was starting to annoy him. He kept dodging and retreating and then shooting at him. That had become annoying sometime ago.

The bullets didn't actually do a damn single thing to him, but they were _irritating._ Like the bites of a mosquito. The swordsman took a moment to look at Van Augur as he stood opposite him on a nearby rooftop. He planted his sword beside him and leaned on it, "Look, we both know how this is going to end. At some point in time, you are going to run out of bullets and well, you don't have to be a genius to figure it out. So why don't you just stand there and let me finish you off? Save everyone a big amount of trouble." The smile on his face was as amicable as he could get without showing his annoyance at the whole thing, '_I should have chosen that brawny looking guy. He didn't look all that smart, but at least he would have fought me up close and personal.'_

The battle had been rather stalemated from the get-go. Suigetsu couldn't touch him as he was faster, but Van Augur had not let his guard down. When given the chance, the swordsman could rapidly close the distance when the distance between them was rather short. He was sure that if he hadn't been faster, he would have more than likely be dead or maimed right about now.

Van Augur pushed up his glasses as calm as he had been since the start of this entire battle, "Now that would be too easy now wouldn't It? Perhaps I may die this day or perhaps I might live. The only way to know is continue this battle of ours till one of us falls."

Suigetsu rolled his eyes, "And the one to fall will be you." The Hozuki clan member liquified both of his hands and mimicked a gun with both of them before pointing them in the direction of Van Augur. The pirate sniper raised an eyebrow at the strange action before noticing the smirk on his opponents face, "Mizudeppo: Nicho (Water Gun: Two Guns)!" From his two hands shaped to mimic a fire gun, Suigetsu fired several rounds of high pressurized bullets in the direction of Van Augur, "You're not the only one who can do a little something with guns." Admittedly, Suigetsu wasn't exactly using guns, but the point still stood as far as he was concerned. He was firing water bullets and guns fired bullets. That was enough for him.

Van Augur was quick to the uptake of taking in the new threat of having to dodge pressurized water being fired at him. From a side glance, he was quick enough to note the sheer amount of damage that the bullets were able to cause as they easily pierced through the roofs of the buildings he was jumping to and fro to evade the rapid fire.

Some water bullets came to close to comfort and some others he had to defend against by firing his own bullets at them. It was safe to say the result was a watery mess. The sniper thought that it was luck that the bullets didn't seem to have enough force in them to shatter even iron.

'_This is going nowhere.' _Van Augur thought as he dropped down to street level from the roofs into a narrow alleyway between what looked like to be two houses. Van Augur and Suigetsu were effectively at an impasse. The Blackbeard sniper couldn't touch Suigetsu because of his powers and Suigetsu couldn't close down on him fast enough to use his more than probable superior close combat skills, '_I believe it is probably best that we consider this raid done.' _Retreat was the best course of action as far as he was concerned at the moment. They had been expecting to come across a meager kingdom and it's army instead of surprisingly skilled opponents that who just happened to be coming into town or where already in town.

Speaking of which, just who were these people?

Instincts told him to quickly dive into a roll and Van Augur was rather glad that he had, otherwise, he would have found himself missing a head. As he came to his feet from his roll, he fired several rounds from his Senriku rifle. As standard by now, the bullets did nothing to his opponent, "I am starting to find you a rather vexing opponent."

The Kirigakure swordsman went for an over hand swing to split his long ranged opponent straight down the middle from head to groin, "Really? I was starting to think the same thing of you." The fact that he had yet to cut or hit the man, let alone make him bleed was rather aggravating. Why the hell did he have to be so nimble and fast when it came to the whole running away or dodging thing? Long range fighters weren't supposed to be like that. They were supposed to suck when it came to the more intimate intricacies of combat.

Van Augur rolled away from the swing at him and when he got back to his feet, he heard the slight sounds of feet on snow and felt a presence come from behind him quickly. Quickly turning around, he noticed Suigetsu coming up from behind him when he was sure the swordsman had been in front of him merely moment before.

He didn't bother to stop and think how that was possible before aiming his rifle and firing several bullets directed at his knees. From what he had observed, although bullets served as nothing more than a _extremely _minor inconvenience for him at best, bullets to the limbs did show some damage in the form of slowing him down as his body liquefied around the hit areas.

Suigetsu bursting into water when the bullets hit did surprise him though and quickly made him forget that the swordsman had also been standing behind him. Thankfully, he was able to bring up his rifle and hold it above him to block the swing, but it had been powerful enough to knock him to the ground.

Suigetsu had a grin on his face as he pushed down with all his strength, "That's a really strong rifle you have there. It's not even bent from my swing. That's impressive." Strangely enough, his arms were all bulky and had seen a large increase in muscle mass.

Van Augur's hands were straining to keep the Senriku rifle level as he strained against the force that was being placed on him, "It's the best rifle in the world. Of course, it's supposed to be made of the best materials as well." The strength of the young man in front of him was worrying though. He wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. Sooner or later, his arms were going to give and that was the end of it.

Luckily, it seems fate had other plans for him this day.

Suigetsu's head randomly exploded violently in a watery messy, giving the chance for Van Augur to quickly move away as the headless body (for now) seemed to lose coordination with the rest of it.

"It seemed like you were having some trouble, so I can to lend a helping hand."

Van Augur looked past Suigetsu as his head reformed from it's current mess, "Laffitte." He recognized at once when he noticed the person who was speaking. Lafitte was an incredibly pale and sickly looking and tall man. He wore off-coloured white collared, long sleeved shirt patterned with crosses and navy jumper pants along with black tap dancing shoes. He was idly twirling a red wooden cane behind his back, "I suppose I shall have to pay you back for this."

Laffitte didn't get the chance to reply as he had to jump away from a backhand swing from Suigetsu, "Oh my, that was rather close." The man said cheerfully enough as he hovered in the air, his hands having transformed into white wings.

Suigetsu waved his sword angrily at the man, "Get down here asshole!" How the hell did the man even sneak up on him? He wore tap dancing shoes for crying out loud, granted that it was snowing, but still, the point still stood.

Laffitte ignored the shouting ninja swordsman and instead decided to address his fellow pirate, "I believe It's time we call this a day. There'll be plenty more towns and villages and islands on the Grand Line to raid." Other towns and such that didn't involve them fighting surprisingly strong individuals such as these lot. He wondered where exactly these young persons had popped up from? They were far too strong to just have started up travelling on the Grand Line.

Van Augur pushed up his glasses, "Surprisingly, I've thought the same as well. What about the captain and Burgess?"

"Doc Q has gone to inform the captain and we should go ahead to inform Burgess."

Suigetsu didn't like being ignored, especially if they were so content on talking about leaving as if he would just allow them to leave just like that. He stopped waving his sword and rested it on his shoulder, a smile on his face, "What exactly makes you think I'll just allow you to go on your merry little-." He stopped when he felt something wrap around his leg. He looked down and noticed a golden chain coming from the ground, "...What the hell-." He didn't finish his sentence as he found himself get sent flying into a nearby building courtesy of the chain.

Laffitte had a smile on his face, "I believe that is the reason as to why you shall be allowing us to leave on our own."

Van Augur knew quite a bit about his fellow pirate such as what he was capable of. It didn't take long for him to figure out what just happened, "You just hypnotised the girl didn't you?" He holstered his Senriku rifle onto his back as he finished talking. It seemed there was going to be no more need for him to be using it.

Laffitte flew off in the direction he had last seen Burgess fighting against his own opponent. He nodded his head in confirmation, "Took me a while. She was quite resistant to my suggestions." That, and the fact that he had to do as he dodged those chains of hers.

Another resounding crash could be heard as Laffitte and Van Augur made their way. Along with the crash, came the sounds of a curse, "Dammit Karen! When I get my hands on-." Another crash rang out.

XxX

(Jugo Vs. Jesus Burgess)

For the entire duration that they had been fighting, the battle between the ninja that was Jugo and the pirate that was Jesus Burgess had been one of who could take the most hits. Neither of them were particularly faster than the other, strangely enough, being somewhere around the same speed, Jugo being faster one, even if his speed was marginally better than that of his opponent.

Of course, this didn't mean that Jesus Burgess would take a moment to take a hit. He had come to learn that the young opponent that he was fighting had this somewhat strange ability to seemingly turn any part of his limbs into some kind of weapon and to get even freakier, he could stretch it out like it was some kind of rubber.

Also, there was also the fact that his skin was leathery hard. It was a good thing that Jesus Burgess had more than enough power in his punches to bypass the leathery armour that was Jugo's skin.

"Rokata (Hard Shoulder)!" With the same wide toothy grin on his face that he always wore, Jesus Burgess smashed his flexed shoulder straight into the torso of Jugo. The orange haired ninja spit out blood from the force of the impact as he was send flying backwards before regaining his footing. Burgess laughed as he saw his opponent skid to a halt, "Wiiihahaha! How do you like that? The strength of the Champion!"

Jugo didn't reply as he got to his feet steadily. Instead, he concentrated at his opponent as well as keeping his far more murderous urges in check. He might have had two whole years to train and get a handle on his clans Kekkei Genkai, but he was still far from being able control it. It was taking a rather sizeable amount of his own willpower to keep from going psycho on Burgess.

The orange haired bipolar ninja didn't particularly care about giving into his more violent urges since Sasuke was around to keep him under control, but he was well aware of the amount of destruction he could cause when he did. He didn't want to damage the town any more than it already was. People lived here.

'_I have to finish this soon.'_ The orange haired giant thought as he looked at Burgess calmly. On his right hand, he formed a large axe on the outside of his forearm and from his back, he created several jet-like appendages that tore themselves through his cloak. Jugo then began to gather chakra in the appendages before jumping in the direction of Burgess with his axe hand held out in front of him.

Burgess was grinning at him widely and confidently, "You have some freaky power-." He didn't finish speaking as his eyes shot out in alarm when suddenly Jugo rocketed in his direction, moving far faster than he had been moving before.

Jugo brought down his transformed axe hand down on the mask wearing, muscled pirate that was in front of him. He had been aiming to bury the axe part of his partial transformed state straight into his head, but it seemed there was more to the pirate in front of him than he had already thought.

Using nothing more than instinctively reflexes and experience gained from previous fights and battles he had found himself in the past, Burgess was quick to move his head to the side for the axe swing to miss such a vital part of his body that would definitely have killed him.

Despite moving away from the fatal blow, the danger had not passed for the pirate as he quickly had to bring his hands up to grab Jugo's axe hand either wise it would have torn through the muscles and bones and sinews of his shoulders and from there, go even further judging from the sheer force of the blow.

The ground that Burgess stood on cracked underneath where he stood from the force of the blow and the concussive force that was generated, snow was swept away from them. The two opponents stared each other down as they both fought for supremacy. Jugo wanting to cut through him and Burgess trying to stop that from happening.

Despite the heavy wound on his shoulder, the grin had yet to disappear, although from Jugo's perspective, it seemed as if the smile was now just slightly less wider and it seemed like it was about to turn into a frown, "Geh...! You have some strength." Burgess said and that was a compliment.

Jugo felt that he should return the favour, "Same for you." Not many would have been able to stop him in this state, especially as he used his boosters to increase his speed and power. Somewhere along the time the two were fighting, he had come to respect his opponent. It was a pity that he was going to have to die now, "Unfortunately, I don't have the time to continue fighting you." The same jet booster like appendages that were on his back grew on his arm and began to gather chakra, "Hakai Onote: Ichishiki (Destroying Axe-Hand: Style One)!"

Burgess had seen the increase in speed and power the boosters on Jugo's back had given the orange haired young man and he certainly did not want to see that sort of increase in speed and definitely power when it came to the axe that struggling to dig further into his shoulder than it already was.

Clenching his teeth as much as he could and strain each and every muscle in his body, Burgess was able to pull of a throw against the orange haired ninja in front of him. Blood spurted out from the wound on his shoulder as the pressure of Jugo's axe hand was relieved from it but that wasn't the only injury he got away with.

The jet boosters that were still on Juugo's back had been active and when Burgess had thrown him away, he had spun away and whilst doing so, his boosters had been directed in Burgess' direction. The pirate helmsman of the Blackbeard pirates had found himself on the wrong end of chakra boosters and thus received some rather painful chakra burns to most of the right side of his torso, neck and face.

"Gah!" He cried out in pain as he rolled around on the ground trying to soothe the pain in some way or form, kicking up a small snow cloud and making an impression in the snow as he rolled around. The cold snow did have some effect in soothing the burns that Burgess was suffering from.

Jugo had to stop the jet boosters on his arm and back lest he found himself spinning uncontrollably and crashing into things such as buildings. When he deactivated his boosters, he got a good look at Burgess as he rolled around in the snow. He had heard the cry of pain from the man. At first, he had thought that it was a cry of exertion mixed with pain from throwing him and dislodging his axe hand, but it seemed that wasn't the case.

The orange-haired ninja could see the burns that were on Burgess' body. It looked painful and from what he was seeing, it seemed painful as well. Juugo had a frown on his face as he moved forward towards the wounded pirate. He would have to put him out of his misery. Chakra burns were rather painful and these people didn't even know how to use chakra and thus were never made aware of how painful it could be.

His right hand was still partially transformed as an axe as he neared Burgess. He began to raise it to bring it down on the pirate, but had to stop and use it as a shield to protect his face when he felt an attack aimed at him.

Bullets lodged themselves into his transformed axe hand or ricocheted away when they hit the blade it self. The bullets seemed to stop and Jugo peeked through an opening in his defence to see his attackers. He saw the man with the strange hat and glasses standing atop a rooftop, rifle pointed in his direction, smoking from being recently fired.

Wasn't Suigetsu supposed to be fighting him? If he was, what was he doing here? He couldn't have defeated Suigetsu could he? It was doubtful. The only weakness Suigetsu had that he could think of was electricity and the man in front of him used a gun. That wasn't enough to beat Suigetsu. In fact, it _wouldn't_ beat Suigetsu. It would just serve as something of a minor inconvenience.

From the direction of Burgess, he felt a presence and directed his attention in that direction and noticed another one of the pirates go to the aid of his fellow pirate. Strangely enough, the pirate seemed to have white wings, "Oh my, you look like you've seen better days, Burgess." The man said, his tone rather calm and cheerful. Burgess didn't reply as he still clutched onto his burn wounds, "I suppose we shall have to make Doc Q have a look at you. Don't worry though, it doesn't seem that bad."

"Wait-." Jugo made a move to stop them, but had to protect himself once more from the attack coming from the sniper.

Van Augur looked down at Jugo, his face eerie calm and composed, "This encounter was one of many in fates doing. Although it seems victory in this encounter was given to you. The next time we meet, I suppose the dice shall be rolled in our favour." With those parting words, he leapt away from the building he stood on, Laffitte having already taken Burgess and were already making their retreat.

Jugo stared at the retreating pirates and released his partial transformation. There was no point in going after people who didn't want to fight anymore. They had only involved themselves in this entire thing to protect the town from the pirates.

***Crash!***

"DAMMIT KAREN! I SWEAR WHEN I GET MY FUCKING HANDS ON YOU, I'LL F-!"

Jugo blinked when he saw a golden chain wrapped around Suigetsu slam him into a building. He sighed as he made his way in the direction of the commotion, '_What are they fighting over now?'_ Especially when they had been fighting a battle not so long ago. He wondered what Sasuke would say.

XxX

"Jugo," Suigetsu said as calmly as possible at the gentle giant. He eyed the person that was within the hold of his arms, "I'm going to ask you nicely, move aside. Me and Karen have some words to say to each other."

Jugo could only shake his head, "Then you are going to have to wait to have those words then. You can plainly see that she isn't herself."

"That's not the point!" The water-based swordsman snapped as he glared in the direction of Karen. Of course he could see that Karen was anything but herself at the moment, the glazed and dazed look in her eyes being a rather noticeable reminder, but still, just because she was under some sort of mind control or something of the likes did not mean he could forgive the being repeatedly smashed into buildings and the snow covered ground more than enough time for him to turn into a watery mess, "She's had this for a long time coming."

"Of course she did." Jugo returned evenly. He knew that Suigetsu wouldn't really hurt Karen. They had some strange form of friendship between them, but one could never be too careful. He shifted Karen around as he held her within his grasp, making sure that he disrupted her chakra enough for her so that she didn't try and attack them with her chains. It had been a hassle to try and get a hold of her whilst she had been attacking them. Fortunately, it seemed as if she had forgotten how to use her barriers whilst underneath the mind control, "We'll have to wait for Sasuke. He's probably the only one who can bring her out of her current state."

The Seven Ninja Swordsman of the quartet kissed his teeth before sheathing the Kubikiribocho behind him, "Where is he anyway?" Sasuke was undeniably the strongest out of the four of them. Some measly pirate wouldn't be enough to take him down. Even if the pirate had some freaky abilities. Not long after Suigetsu had mentioned the dark-haired ninja, Sasuke had made his appearance. Suigetsu gave him a squinted eye look, "...You weren't just hiding in the shadows so you could make an appearance when someone mentioned your name where you?"

Sasuke only drifted his eyes in the direction of Suigetsu before making his way towards Jugo and the quartet's resident medic. He looked at Karen and noticed her eyes, "She's in a genjutsu?" No, wait a second, that was impossible. The rest of the world didn't know how to use chakra, let alone genjutsu. It didn't take long for him to come to a conclusion, "She's been hypnotised hasn't she?" As someone who hypnotised his fair share of people, he recognised the signs.

Suigetsu could only nod, "Yep. I hope none of those guys have some freaky eye thing like you do. That would be really messed up." He popped open a water bottle to drink from. He had used quite a lot of water when he had used his ninjutsu against that Van Augur guy. He needed to rehydrate himself.

Jugo was the one who asked the most important question, "Can you undo the effects of the hypnotism?" They had tried shaking her and Suigetsu was even willing to give her the good old slap to see if she could come back to the land of the consciously aware.

"How hard can it be?" Sasuke's coal black eyes turned red with three tomoes lazily spinning outside the iris. They started spinning faster when he locked eyes with Karen. It took a moment, but life seemed to come back to Karen's eyes, "There." Sasuke said as he deactivated his Kekkei Genkai.

Karen blinked for a moment as she took in her surroundings. She then noticed that she was within the tight hold of Jugo, "What the? Jugo get off me!" Jugo did as what was asked of him and released the red-haired, glasses wearing kunoichi. She stumbled as she landed on her feet before adjusting her glasses, "What happened? Where are those pirates we were fighting?"

Suigetsu had an eyebrow raised in amusement, "You don't remember?" He asked before noticing the look on Karen's face and laughing, "Ha! Sweet!"

Jugo was the more helpful of her teammates, "You were hypnotised into attacking Suigetsu and me. The pirates are long gone by now. We drove them back." They were tougher than what he had come to see of the average pirate in the world. Well, the person he had been fighting was rather tough.

Karen was mortified as she looked at Sasuke, "I didn't attack you did I?"

"Thanks for the show of concern." Suigetsu said dryly when he noticed that she was more mortified about attacking Sasuke than she was of attacking her other two teammates.

"No." Sasuke's reply was simple and blunt. He then looked past Karen and Jugo as he noticed a group of people come up from behind them, "We have company."

The other members of Taka who had their backs turned to the new arrivals turned to face them. All of them were expecting company of the bad sorts but they were somewhat surprised to see a group of civilians, "The townsfolk?" Karen suggested.

If they were the towns folk, they were rather wary of the group. None of Taka could actually blame them. They had just been attacked by pirates and thus had cause to be wary.

The lead towns folk who seemed to be wearing armour and uniform stepped forward. He held some kind of enlarged spade in his hand and he looked like he had taken a beating, "Who are you?" He asked, his voice booming from where he stood with the others, "Are you friend or foe?"

"We just beat up the pirates that attacked your town. What do you think?" Suigetsu asked as he stepped forward, "If you want a fight, I'll give you a fight." His hand was already twitching to go to the Kubikiribocho behind him. He was still annoyed as to how his own fight against the sniper pirate had ended.

The man in the green, armoured uniform stared at them from a distance quietly before sheathing the spade was his weapon behind him. He stepped forward, "My apologies. One can never be too careful as you can see." He made his way towards them before stopping a little ways off, "My name is Dalton. A member of the Royal Guard of the Drum Kingdom." Well, it was most likely former Drum Kingdom now. Wapol had fled and the kingdom had no king until a new one was chosen. But these people didn't need to be told that.

"Sasuke" The Uchiha scion said as he introduced himself. He then introduced the other members of Taka, "Jugo, Suigetsu and Karen." He continued, individually indicating with a slight movement of the head to each and every one of them as he said their names.

Dalton gave a nod of the head. He gave them a small, thankful smile, "On behalf of the people of the Kingdom and the towns folk of Big Horn, thank you. If there's anything we can do, all you have to do is ask."

Sasuke merely pulled out the Log Pose, "When will this reset?"

The royal guard looked at the navigation equipment before answering, "From my knowledge, it takes a couple of days at the very least."

Suigetsu hooked his water bottle back onto his supply belt around his waist, "I suppose we'll be here for a while then." He grinned a toothy grin that showed of his sharpened teeth. If they caused Dalton any sort of discomfort, he didn't show it, "I guess we'll be staying here for a while then." He didn't mind that at all. At the very least, it meant that he could stand on solid ground for the next foreseeable future.

Jeez, what was wrong with the world? Why was it mostly islands and lots and lots of water? That didn't make sense at all.

* * *

**AN: Slightly shorter chapter than usual, mostly because I tried to control myself so that I didn't let it run off. Hope I somewhat did the fights some justice. It's not that the Blackbeard pirates are weak, it was just they were outmatched as of now. Suigetsu is pretty much untouchable as of now to anyone that doesn't doesn't know how to fight him.**

**As of Blackbeard, in series, he's powerful and is the guy that gave Shanks (The badass guy that was able to scare everyone on Marineford into a ceasefire with his and his crews arrival) that scar but we are never actually told how powerful he is or how that came to happen. The fight against Ace didn't exactly show his full strength, just that he was powerful enough to defeat Ace serves as an indicator. But it is pretty much a truth that he's rather slow and against someone that's kind of a speedster like Sasuke, well...**

**Oh yes, I updated some parts of Ch.3 after making some revisions to my overall story. Hope you guys like it.**

**Any how, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Later.**

**Raidensokwl**


	8. Touring The Line

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece_

* * *

Touring The Line

The sky had been cloudy and grey in the morning when she had woken up but by the time that it was after mid-day, the sky was a clear blue with rays of sunshine casting down on the earth. In other words, it was just one of those exceptional days to take a moment to lie down in the sun and work on that tan.

That was what exactly Miss Valentine, currently prisoner to a rather strange group of pirate-adventurous, was doing. The fugitive Baroque Works agent was laid down on her back dressed in clothing attire suitable for an activity that she was currently doing, i.e. some swimwear that she had borrowed from the resident navigator Nojiko without her knowing. Underneath her was a flowery blanket that she was using to lay down on.

Of course, the fact that Miss Valentine was being so casual about it all was enough to gain the attention of the other crew members. Especially because they had worked themselves up a sweat at improving their own combat skills since they had woken up earlier in the day. Of course, they had only gone to training after making sure that everything on the ship was fine and doing the duties that was expected of them as members of the ships' crew.

Silk had woken up extra early to make enough breakfast for the crew. Sometimes, it was more of a banquet than anything. Why? Because Naruto and Konohamaru simply didn't know the meaning of modesty and could seemingly eat their way out of trouble. They never seemed to leave anything on their plates after everything was over and done with.

The chef inside her couldn't help but be pleased whenever she saw the empty plates that had been full of her cooking not so long ago. Simply because it showed that her cooking skills were desired and not only that, they were bloody brilliant as well.

Of course, earlier in their journey it had been rather annoying washing up everything afterwards. That was until Naruto proved that he could clone himself and the swordswoman in training quickly saw a way for her to escape the troubles of actually having to do any of the washing up; by leaving it to Naruto's clones. It didn't take much convincing on her part for Silk to make Naruto part with his clones to help with the chore. He had been more than willing, just because she deserved It, that and the fact that he made her life horrible enough as it was.

Nojiko's day always started and ended the same as every other day. She would wake up to make sure that they were still on the same course that she had made sure they were traveling on from the night before, making some slight alterations whenever it was needed.

Her job as the navigator of the crew and the most important person on the ship right before Silk had become increasingly easier when she learned that the weird weather patterns from between Reverse Mountains and Cactus Island was only localized to that area. The blue haired navigator had no wish to wake up to find themselves going in the completely wrong direction, or even worse, find that they had drifted themselves into the Calm Belt.

After charting their course and making sure that everything was A-Okay, she would move to her own training regime. She liked to think that she had made progress when it came to the use of guns. It seemed like she had a natural capacity when it came to ranged weaponry, even though the only gun she had ever held had never been fired before, or was even loaded. It was just there for the sake of being there.

Why she had never thought to actively try and use guns as her weapons of choice was beyond her. She had come across the armoury on the ship and it was filled to the brink with swords and guns and bullets and gunpowder among many other things.

She had just never paid attention to the fact that she could learn to use any of the ranged weaponry in there for herself.

Out of all the types of guns that they had aboard the ship, pistols came easier to her. They had the least amount of recoil compared to the rifle and definitely the shotgun. They didn't weigh her down and they could easily be hidden somewhere on her body instead of being out in plain sight like a rifle or a shotgun.

That had quickly endeared that type of gun to herself. She didn't particularly see herself lugging around a rifle and all. Even if pistols had a lower range of fire than a rifle and were less accurate the larger the distance between herself and her target.

Rifles were a close second. They were powerful and had a long range to them, but they were rather difficult to manoeuvre and might as well have been useless if someone was able to close the distance down on her before she was even able to fire off a shot (Or if she had been able to, but miss). The recoil was also a problem as well.

And a shotgun...well, it wasn't really her sort of weapon. Too much recoil. The first time she had fired one, she had nearly dislocated her shoulder. It had been painful and she had felt the pain for what seemed like days on end. Sometimes, when she practiced with a shotgun, she could feel the phantom pain of that near dislocation of her shoulder. That incident had made her rather averse to using the slow but powerful weapons.

Silk stopped going through the motions of her sword play to wipe some sweat of her brow. She released a heavy sigh as she panted before glancing in the direction of Miss Valentine. She found herself rather annoyed at what she was seeing, "What are you doing?"

Miss Valentine was now lying on her front as she read a book. It was common tanning protocol to make sure that both the front and back got equal amounts of sunlight. It would have been rather awkward and embarrassing to be half-baked so to speak, "Tanning. Isn't it obvious?" She said, all laughs and cheerfulness.

"Yes, I can see that." Silk returned as she rested her sword on the gunwale before trying to roll out some of the aches and pains in her joints. As she moved her shoulders, she could feel the surely hardening muscles underneath her skin. Naruto's resistance seals may have made her life a living hell whenever she walked around or trained, but they did what they were supposed to do, '_I hope by the time I don't need them anymore, I won't be some muscle woman.'_ She thought with a mental grimace as she imagined herself all bulked up with muscle. She rather liked being slim and womanly. She didn't want to scare of any future potentials suitors just because she looked like she could break them in two.

Silk liked to think that she had come quite the way in terms of her fighting ability when she compared herself to back when she started. It was a difficult comparison to make simply because she had yet to find herself in a fight to see how far she had come from back when Crescent Moon Galley had attacked her hometown.

She had certainly become far faster than she had been back when she started. Whenever Naruto actually released the seals on her body, she could tell that her body felt far more lighter and faster. And it showed as well. She had a simple test of sorts to see how fast she was whenever the seals that placed resistance on her body were released.

She merely timed herself running from one end of the ship to the other. When that had become inconclusive, she had then sort of increased the difficulty of the test by making it two laps instead of one. And each time, the test became less inconclusive, she would increase the number of laps she would do.

And with each new lap, a sort of pride came with it.

Of course, this was all meaningless if she wasn't able to actually see if she could hold her own against a pirate. She had left her hometown, the town which she considered her own personal treasure so that she could become strong enough to defend it from pirates when she returned (hopefully) from traveling the Grand Line with Naruto and the others.

Her first real test would, _should_ have been the Arlong Pirates, but Naruto had thought them slightly out of her league at the time and had resigned her to the sidelines whilst he and Konohamaru battled it out with them. Seeing Naruto and Konohamaru fight had made her determined that she would be as strong as them, or near enough that no pirate would ever risk of going to try anything with her hometown.

But once again, she had yet to find herself in a fight. She wasn't one to go looking for fights, but..."But why are you tanning? Don't you have anything to do?"

Miss Valentine laughed her usual laugh, "Kyahaha! I'm a prisoner darling. I don't really have much of anything to do other than well, have my freedom restricted by you lot."

'_Freedom restricted my ass.' _Silk griped mentally. The sunny blonde haired woman was anything but a prisoner. She had more rights and luxuries than prisoner had any rights to have. Miss Valentine was apparently rather strong. She was or had been one of the upper agents of the criminal organization that was currently after her and her friends. Clearly that meant she was rather tough wasn't she? "Why don't you do something useful?"

"Useful? Like what?"

'_Like being my sparring partner.' _Silk had all but had enough of Konohamaru and Naruto running circles around her. Or that damned frog called Gama. God...she really hated that frog. She was starting to hate any amphibian to be honest. She always had to have a towel and spare clothes at the ready whenever she was training with the toad, "I don't know, train."

The (former) Baroque Works officer agent looked at Silk strangely, "You just didn't say that." Why would she need to train? Actually, why would she, a prisoner by the way, need to train? What could the girl see in her actively training to make her more powerful?

Those very same thoughts were shared by Nojiko. The blue haired navigator stopped her target practice to look strangely at the younger female, "She's a prisoner Silk. She get's all her daily needed exercise and more. There's no need for her to train like us. It means far less trouble for us in the long run."

Silk was starting to see where exactly she had gone wrong with her words. She shuffled her feet around rather nervously as she tried to avoid the gaze of Nojiko. She laughed rather nervously, "Well, you see, I just sort of needed a sparring partner that wasn't Naruto, Konohamaru or Gama."

Miss Valentine had a small smile of amusement on her face, "Getting tired of getting beaten up, are we?"

"I will cut you." Silk warned as she quickly picked up her sword and waved it threateningly in the direction of Miss Valentine.

Miss Valentine laughed at the action as she continued to sit and laze around in the sun whilst continuing to work on her tan. Nojiko shook her head before returning to her own training, "I can understand how you feel Silk," Nojiko really did. She had felt sorry for the younger girl whenever she saw her being the plaything for the far stronger trio that was Naruto, Konohamaru and the giant toad, but had been glad it wasn't her doing the training. Although she had come to realize that sooner or later, she was going to be involved in that sort of training herself. The kiddy wheels were eventually going to have to come of, "But you probably shouldn't. Not that I'm saying you are weak or anything. Mostly because I don't want the ship to get damaged." They didn't have a shipwright to fix any of the problems that came up, '_Note to self, have a little chat with Naruto-kun about who we need for crew members.'_

Miss Valentine nodded her head eagerly, "And anyway my fellow blonde, if I were to spar against you, I'm sure I would be violating my status as prisoner. That and the fact that my fighting style isn't really all that good for fighting on a ship of all things."

Silk didn't seem all that deterred. She crossed her arms over her chest, "Try me."

Miss Valentine held back a snort of amusement, "See, this is how I fight. I make myself really light, float up into the sky and then increase my weight to come crashing down back to planet earth, crushing whoever is underneath me." And as Naruto and Konohamaru have recently pointed out, giving a free view of her underwear to anyone who was looking up. Now that she thought about, that probably explained a lot as to why many of her targets would just gape at her as she floated above them.

...And most of them were male...There was something to be said about that...

Oh why did she care? They were dead and she was still very much alive. If a little panty flash was enough to get them sidetracked from the fact that she was there to kill them or somewhere along them lines, they wouldn't have survived the Grand Line for long.

Silk didn't seem at all that impressed when she heard how Miss Valentine fought, "That's all?" She could see so many flaws in the way she fought. Hell, if they fought now, Silk was confident that she would come out the victor of their little fight and unharmed as well.

Miss Valentine cast her green eyes in the direction of Silk who was looking down at her. The Baroque Works agent was sure she was literally looking down at her and figuratively as well, "I'll have you know, I was an officer agent of Baroque Works. An _officer_ agent. That means I'm rather strong thank you very much."

Silk shared a look with Nojiko before returning to look back at Miss Valentine, "We don't even know what an officer agent is." They had only recently learned about Baroque Works just some days ago. Miss Valentine wasn't even willing to tell them how their organization was structured, '_We should ask that Igaram guy.'_ He seemed friendly enough, despite being a little overbearing.

"Let me get this straight," Nojiko said with a slight frown on her face, "You float up in the air and then convert your weight to come back down to earth to crush people as your way of attacking?" Miss Valentine nodded slowly, "Okay, what happens when people move aside?"

The Baroque Works agent was rather dumb-struck, "...What?"

"You know, dodge." Nojiko repeated, "What happens when people just dodge your attacks? That leaves you rather open doesn't it?" She didn't know much about fighting, very little in fact, but it seemed like common sense to her.

Miss Valentine just stared wide eyed at the two women on the main deck with her. Now that she thought about it, didn't that happen back in Whiskey Peak? She remembered her encounter with Naruto and Konohamaru going exactly the same way as Nojiko described It.

The two self-styled ninjas had been able to dodge her initial attack easily enough that that it would have been it for her if it wasn't for the fact that Mr. 5 had come in to attack them not long after, taking away their attention. Wow, she had thought herself strong, but now she was starting to doubt herself.

Her entire fighting style revolved around surprise attacks. Attacks that people wouldn't see coming because they had the far more dangerous Mr. 5 to deal with. Of course, when surprise didn't work, it seemed they would have been distracted by something else to avoid dodging her coming down to earth to crush them underneath her weight.

Silk watched Miss Valentine's expression before shaking her head in amusement. She picked up her sword from where she had rested it and gave a practice swing before going back to doing her forms, "I think you broke her."

Nojiko had a dry expression on her face as she couldn't help but agree, "I think so too. Hey, watch it where you swing that thing, Silk!" She quickly snapped in the direction of Silk who had swung far to close to one of the ship's masts.

"Sorry!" The young swordswoman apologized rather quickly.

Nojiko sighed as she returned to her own training, "We really need a shipwright or someone who knows how to repair a ship." She muttered underneath her breath.

They couldn't go traveling around the Grand Line half-assedly. It was already common knowledge between her and the captain that they needed a doctor. As Naruto had said, he could heal people, but that was only limited to how much he knew about the human body and the extent of the injuries or whether he _knew_ exactly what he was healing.

It also seemed that they also needed to find a carpenter/shipwright, to fix things up if the ship was to ever continue sailing the Grand Line. Although not that noticeable, there were knicks and scratches and cuts on the main deck and gunwales from where Silk had been training with Konohamaru or Naruto or Gama.

Naruto and his fellow ninja, Konohamaru knew how to hold back so that they didn't damage the ship, but the same couldn't be said for the giant toad. It did try to hold back, but that thing was seriously large and heavy and whenever it moved about the ship, Nojiko swore she could feel the entire deck underneath her shake and rumble and sometimes, she could hear the wood creak and groan.

'_I swear,' _She began thinking to herself, '_One of these days, that giant toad is going to snap the wood underneath it.' _She resolved herself to have words with Naruto later on about his amphibian friend. Speaking of Naruto, the bluenette navigator stopped to look around the ship and noticed that the blonde wasn't on the deck doing nothing as usual, neither were his clones. In fact, she had yet to come across him or Konohamaru, "Where are the boys?"

Knowing that 'boys' was the girl speak for Naruto and Konohamaru, not the newest addition of the ship in the form of Igaram, Silk shrugged her slender shoulders, "Don't know. Haven't seen them." Now that she thought about, she hadn't seen them during breakfast. Naruto and Konohamaru _never_ missed breakfast nor any meal for that matter and lunch was coming right up, "Maybe they are still in their rooms, sleeping?" She suggested carefully. Naruto was by far the laziest person she had ever come to know, but she had to admit that he was rather nice and a hard worker whenever it came down to it. The same could be said for Konohamaru, just minus the lazy part...to a certain amount.

Nojiko shook her head, her short blue hair swaying to the side with each movement of the shake, "After midday? I don't think so." The boys weren't particularly early birds, but they always seemed to be up and awake before midday. She had yet to find neither one of the two awake after midday.

Miss Valentine had was finally able to bring herself out of her stupor as she stopped battling her own sense of worth and skills in combat to take note of what was happening around her. She sat up onto her backside and drew her legs close to her body, "So is this the part where we start to freak out?"

"We'll do that after searching the ship from top to bottom." Nojiko said firmly as she holstered her guns.

Miss Valentine nodded her head in agreement just like any good prisoner would. But that didn't mean she didn't have words to say about that, "See, this ship is pretty big. I don't even know why you have such a big ship, but you do. Searching this entire ship will take ag~es."

"What will take ages?"

The sudden question caused all three females to jump in surprise as they turned to face the person who had just asked the question all out of the blue. Nojiko and Silk responded in an a 'ready to fight' manner due to the fact that they had both been holding weapons in their hands at that moment in time.

Nojiko blinked in surprise when she saw who it was, "Naruto-kun?" She called out in realization at seeing the blonde ninja stand atop the gunwale rather casually.

The blonde ninja raised a hand in greeting, "Yo, Noji-chan. What's up?"

Silk made her way towards him, "Where have you been?" She asked, having to stop herself from jumping slightly when a blur landed beside Naruto on the gunwale, "Konohamaru!"

The Sarutobi scion tilted his head to the side and began to smack at the other side of his head with his ear in a bid to remove some water that was caught up in his ear. He stopped when he heard Silk call out his name, "Yeah?"

"What the hell happened to you?" Said swordswoman asked when she noticed that Konohamaru absolutely drenched with water.

"Training. " Konohamaru merely said in reply as he stopped smacking at the side of his head. He then looked himself over, a small scowl coming over his features, "Well, I would like to call it training, but honestly? It was just the boss kicking my ass all over the place. You are a bastard sometimes boss."

Naruto held back a snort as he dropped down from the gunwale and onto the main deck, "You're just lucky that I don't feel like throwing you down a deep crevice. That's what Ero-sennin did to me when it came to his 'training'." Jiraiya also did a lot of other things that no sane person would say was training, but was more along the lines of serious child abuse, but that was simply the way life was.

Miss Valentine had got up from her spot on the deck and looked at the two ninja, a delicate eyebrow raised up her head, "You guys train?"

"Well, yeah. I've pretty much reached my peak, but Konohamaru can still grow." He only trained to keep his current abilities at the same level as they are now. It wasn't like he could get any stronger than he was already. His body was already at it's physical peak and his chakra control was about as good as it was ever going to get. He would also train to get a handle on each of the elements he was able to utilise now.

"Urgh," Miss Valentine groaned, "The way you just replied to my question makes me sound like I'm some sort of an idiot."

"Sor-." Naruto went to apologise for that, but he stopped when he finally was able to get a good long, hard look at Miss Valentine. He couldn't help but come to the conclusion that he liked what he saw. He found himself smiling and commenting at the sight, "Awesome. Just awesome."

Konohamaru was also much of the same mind when he saw the bikini clad Miss Valentine.

Said blonde woman saw the expressions on both boys and the fact that they were looking directly in her direction caused her smile to widen somewhat. She leaned forward slightly, resting her hands on her knees thus pressing her breasts together, amplifying her cleavage, "Hey, what's wrong with you two? What's got you all dumbstruck?" She asked, all the whilst playing innocent. Her actions caused both boys to start bleeding from the nose. Miss Valentine laughed, "Kyahaha, I still have it."

Nojiko wasn't at all amused by what she was seeing. She walked up to Miss Valentine and gave her a light smack on the head, "Stop it. You don't need to be giving them ideas." She said before going to the still staring ninjas and smacking them hard on the head to get them out of their little trance, knocking them down to the deck floor. She blew at her steaming knuckles, "Perverts."

"Pretty sure you wouldn't mind the attention if the our roles were reversed." Miss Valentine said in sing-song.

She looked away innocently when Nojiko levelled a glare in her direction. The blue haired navigator stood above the downed ninjas, hands on her hips staring down at them, "If you were going to go training, then you could at least have left us a note or something like that. We were starting to worry."

"We _did _leave a note." Naruto muttered as he sat up as he rubbed at the bump on his head. Damn did Nojiko hit hard. In fact, every girl seemed to hit hard whenever it was a situation like this, "I made sure Konohamaru wrote one."

"What are you talking about, Boss? I'm pretty sure you are the one who was supposed to write it." Konohamaru countered as he also got to his feet. His body felt as heavy as lead and the water logged clothing wasn't helping at all.

The blue eyed ninja turned his gaze towards his apprentice's direction, "...Pretty sure I said 'Konohamaru, make sure that you leave a note or something for the others'."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did."

"Pretty sure, you didn-."

Nojiko cut of the argument before it evolved into the two of them starting to brawl over nothing. The main thing was that they had finally showed themselves, "Look, just make sure it never happens again, okay?"

Both boys stood up and gave her a salute, "Yes ma'am!" They said as one.

Silk was amused by the sight, "Isn't Naruto supposed to be the captain?" An outside observer would have felt that the captain was Nojiko instead of Naruto.

"I am _the_ captain. It's just public knowledge that Noji-chan is my Chief of Staff. I mean, she makes sure stuff get's done around here." Naruto remarked casually at the swordswoman. He then quickly spoke up before someone said something, "And of course, Kono here is my always loyal right hand. My second in command. And since we are on a ship, he's the First Mate, the Executive Officer, the Vice-Captain, the Lie-."

"We get it." The others deadpanned in sync to stop Naruto from going on about Konohamaru's position on the crew.

Konohamaru seemed to be a little bit pleased with himself over the ranking judging by the smile on his face, "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Naruto could only nod before looking at Silk, "By the way, did we make it back in time for lunch or did we miss it?"

The question seemed to make the young blonde woman jump in surprise, "I nearly forgot about lunch." She had been so concentrated on her training that she had all but forgotten about one of the three main meals of the day. That was embarrassing and she was supposed to be the ships chef, "I'll get on it right away!" She said before dashing towards inside the ship, "Of course I'll start cooking after I give myself a wash!" She shouted after she had disappeared into the lower decks.

"Speaking of a wash..." Konohamaru said as he made a leisurely pace in the direction of the hold himself, "I need one as well. Need to get the stench of saltwater from out of my hair, skin and clothes."

The main deck was left with nothing more than Naruto, Miss Valentine and Nojiko after the others had gone down below, "Naruto-kun, make some of your clones. We need someone to maintain the ship now." Nojiko said as she put away her own equipment that she used for training.

Naruto did what was asked of him as he created a dozen or so clones that immediately went about to check up and take posts around the deck. Naruto couldn't help but face-palm when he saw two of his clones get pushed into the water by another clone, for the single position of who would man the crow's nest, "Sometimes..." Naruto muttered underneath his breath as Miss Valentine laughed loudly in the background, "So yeah, where we going to next Noji-chan?"

Nojiko had everything packed up and ready to be moved back down into storage when Naruto asked her the question, "From what I can tell, some place called Rodeo Island." She looked in the direction of Miss Valentine, "Heard of it?" Miss Valentine was probably the only other person other than Igaram who had more experience of the Grand Line.

Miss Valentine took a moment to think about it before shaking her head, "Can't say I have to be honest. There's a number of islands on the Grand Line," And that was only including the Paradise portion of the Grand Line, "I haven't travelled to all of them or heard many of them." Each new mission she got that was situated within the Grand Line whilst with Baroque Works was like a school trip to a new or strange island with lots of interesting things to see.

"Well, I suppose that was too much to hope for." Nojiko would have liked to at least have had some knowledge about the island they were travelling too. She didn't want a repeat of what had apparently happened on Cactus Island and Whiskey Peak town, "By the way Miss Valentine..."

"Hm?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Nojiko began, as sweet as she possibly could be. By then, Naruto had heard that tone of voice many a times and had decided to slide away to a safe distance in case bad things were about to happen, "But it's rather strange, but I'm pretty sure I have a very similar and somewhat strangely identical bikini to the one you are wearing right now. Strange isn't it?"

Miss Valentine laughed weakly as she slowly began to make her way inside, "Yes...very strange."

Nojiko couldn't help but nod her head in agreement as she followed suite after the sunny blonde woman, "Even stranger is the fact that I'm sure when you were brought aboard, you didn't have any other clothes on you apart from what you were wearing. What is a girl supposed to make of that?"

"...Nothing?" Was the tentative suggestion from Miss Valentine.

"Now you know that would be just silly."

XxX

(Sometime Later - Grand Line)

"Captain Buggy! Captain Alvida!" A random pirate ran up towards the bow of the ship were the two captains and the officers were sat, "We'll be nearing Rodeo Island soon!"

"Rodeo Island?" A man with his face covered in make-up like that of a clown along with a big red nose grunted out, "About time."

"You've heard of it Buggy?" A slim, well-endowed, beautiful black haired woman asked as she sat relaxed on a recline chair, "Anything we should know about it?"

"No." Came the simple and straight answer from the clown themed pirate. He noticed the look on his fellow pirates face, "Hey, don't expect me to know every single bit about the Grand Line."

"You've been here before haven't you? Everyone else here is new to this place." And that was a shame. If it wasn't for the fact that they both shared a similar goal into finding Straw Hat Luffy (both for entirely different reasons), she would have gone her own separate way with her own crew. But alas, that wasn't to be.

Her clown themed ally and fellow pirate captain had travelled the Grand Line before and thus had a better experience about the place than her own self. The decision was rather easy to make, even if she had to deal with some of the clown's stranger quirks. And his crew as well...Oh god, his crew.

Buggy had a frown on his face as he sat, "Don't remind me." He remembered those days clearly in his head. He had served on a legendary pirate crew and ship and had been involved in many great things. But that wasn't what was memorable about his youth, the only thing that made his experience then memorable was because of one red-haired bastard by the name of Shanks.

The man who had ruined everything for him.

"So what exactly is the plan Buggy?" Alvida asked simply.

"Same as usual, make port, get resupplied and continue searching for Straw Hat. We'll be able to find some information on the bastard soon if we search hard enough." The entire Buggy and Alvida Alliance had been created with the sole goal of going after Straw Hat Luffy and exacting some much needed vengeance. It also had the added benefit of the fact that when he beats Straw Hat, Buggy's own name will become even more infamous and his bounty would surely rise up in recognition of his feats.

It was about time that the world came to learn the terror of Buggy the Clown, future Pirate King!

Alvida nodded her head in acceptance, her black locks swaying with the movement, "What if we come across some other pirates with a high bounty?"

Buggy allowed himself to grin widely, "Obvious isn't It?" Whatever fool pirates they came across would be nothing more than another stepping stone towards his personal glory.

Alvida couldn't help but return the feeling but hers was more along the lines of a smirk, "I figured as much."

XxX

(Bronc Rein Town - Rodeo Island)

A woman with long pink hair that went down her back and framed her face with two locks turned around when she heard the sounds of hurrying feet coming in her direction. She shifted the cigarette in her mouth when she saw a Marine come to a gasping halt in front of her, "What is it?"

The Marine took a moment to regain his breath before standing up straight and saluting her, "Captain Hina, an emergency report!"

The woman, Hina placed a hand on her hip, "Go on, Hina is listening. Report."

"The prisoner has escaped, Captain!" The Marine all but shouted out, "And whilst doing so, he injured many of the Marines aboard the ship. He's truly a demon! None of us could stop him! He just sent us flying!"

A frown came across the Marine captain's delicate features before sighing. She removed the cigarette from her mouth before dropping it to the ground and stubbing it out, "Well, Hina was beginning to get bored anyway. Hina has already captured him once, Hina can do it again." She turned her attention back to the Marine, "Go back to the ship and make sure everyone is taken care off."

The Marine gave a nod and saluted her once more, "Yes ma'am!" He said before rushing of back in the direction of the harbour of where their ship was docked.

Hina turned around and began to make her way further into the town. She placed her hands casually into her pockets as her dark eyes began to scan the area, "Now then, where could you be Gin the 'Man Demon'." She was not about to let such a dangerous person get away free. He might not have had a bounty at the time she captured him, which was strange considering that he already had an epithet and the fact that his name was well known through-out East Blue as the first mate of Don Krieg.

The fact that he was the second in command of such a dangerous man was more than enough proof that someone like him couldn't be allowed to go running around unchecked.

XxX

(Port - Rodeo Island)

Naruto looked around at the gathered group of people on the deck that included his current crew members of Konohamaru, Nojiko and Silk, prisoner (yeah, right) Miss Valentine and Igaram, the person who had hired them for a journey in the direction of Alabasta. He clapped his hands together to get the attention of the others, "Alright, everyone knows the rules. Since we don't have a clue as to how long we'll have to wait on this island until the Log Pose resets, you can do whatever until Nojiko says other wise."

Igaram cleared his throat to gain the attention of the gathered people. When everyone looked at him, he pulled out his Eternal Pose, "Or we can just restocked and resupplied and off we go to Alabasta by following this convenient Eternal Pose right here." He suggested, whilst repeatedly pointing with his index finger of his free hand on the navigating device.

Naruto snapped his fingers in the direction of Igaram, "That is a great suggestion...but we are not going to follow it. Not yet at least. I want to feel some cold hard ground beneath my sandaled feet first before going anywhere." Silk raised her hand as if she was in a classroom. Naruto pointed at her, "Yes, Silk-chan? What is it?"

The swordswoman pointed in the direction of their resident prisoner (if she was actually that) and asked, "What do we do about her? You aren't really thinking of letting her run around on her own are you?" That just sounded stupid. Sure Miss Valentine had said that Baroque Works was utterly ruthless and that the boss didn't condone failure of any kind, but that didn't alleviate any fears of her running of back to the organisation and telling her boss everything about them in exchange for her life.

Naruto brought a hand to his chin and rubbed it in a sage like manner, "Hm, that is a good point. Well done Silk-chan for raising it up. I'll give you a cookie later."

"Why would I need a cookie? I don't want a cookie. I'm not a child!"

Naruto ignored the outburst and pointed in the direction of his fellow Konoha ninja, "Konohamaru, you are on babysitting duty. Make sure she doesn't go anywhere." He ordered the younger man.

"Yes, boss!" Konohamaru returned with a crisp salute.

Miss Valentine shook her head in amusement, "Oh come on now, you would think by the time we have been together, you would have come to trust me. I won't go anywhere, promise."

"I'll feel much better about it if it wasn't for the fact you are a recognised criminal who works for a recognised criminal organisation that is in the midst of Coup D'Etat." Nojiko mused dryly with a roll of the eyes. She the turned her attention towards Naruto, "Naruto-kun, me and you will have to find an exchange."

Naruto squinted his eyes in the direction of the bluenette, "What the hell is an exchange?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like. You exchange the treasure you found on your travels for money, in other words beli." Nojiko said as she began to lecture Naruto on the subject, "I just realised this, but you never actually did exchange all the treasure we gave you from defeating Arlong back on Commi Island."

"Oh, then I suppose we'll have to handle that won't we?" Naruto said with a shrug of the shoulders, "You guys can do whatever you want then. Of you go." He noticed the look on Igaram's face and sighed, "Once we've rested on this island for a time, we'll be of to Alabasta, promise. And I never go back on my promises."

Seeing the resoluteness in Naruto's eyes and hearing the sincerity in his voice convinced Igaram that Naruto was speaking the truth as to his last statement, "Very well. I shall hold you to that promise Uzumaki-san." With that, Igaram turned on his heel and made his way below decks, back to his chambers instead of going out and exploring the town they had made port. It wasn't as if he actually needed anything.

Naruto had a slightly amused grin on his face as he saw Igaram disappear into the depths of the ship, "I have to say, that guy might be hard to deal with, but I can't help but admire his loyalty to his princess. It's rather difficult finding people like him." People that were undyingly loyal to the end. People could be loyal if they believed in something greater than themselves, but undying loyalty was a rarer kind of loyalty that was difficult to come across.

"If I didn't know any better, I would think you actually like him Naruto-kun." Nojiko said as she led the way towards the storage area where they kept all of the treasure.

Naruto shook his head with a slight grimace, "I said I admire his loyalty to his princess. I didn't say anything about liking him. He's far too stuck up and serious." And the constant 'Princess this' and 'Princess that' had something to them that would come to get him on his nerves.

The two made their way into the depths of the ship before entering the storage room. Naruto looked around and noticed at all the valuables that was within the room. Some of it had come with Galley's ship, but it hadn't been much. The rest had come from him and Konohamaru's helping and liberating of Cocoyasi Village and Commi Island from the yoke of Arlong.

"I wonder how much all this stuff is worth." Naruto mused.

Nojiko began to pack up the treasure into a large bag, "We'll soon be finding out."

XxX

"These are all high quality items." The appraiser said as he examined the treasure in front of him, one hand held to his eye to hold in place an eye glass, "I can offer you 15 million beli for all of it."

"15 million beli?" Nojiko repeated, rather surprised by the amount of money that was being offered to them in exchange for their treasure. She slumped in her seat, "Wow, that's a lot." Her mind then immediately drifted to all of the things that she could buy with such a large amount of money, i.e. clothes. It was decided, after they got their money, they were going to go shopping. She had been in need of new clothes anyway. Miss Valentine had been stealing hers and Nojiko was not one for sharing her fashion attire, unless your name was Nami.

Naruto nodded as he sat beside her, "Yeah, that is a lot of money isn't it?" He then smiled pleasantly at the appraiser, "But what do I get the feeling it could be higher?"

The appraiser looked up from the work he was currently doing, "I'm sorry sir, but that is what your treasure is worth."

"See, there's the problem. I get the feeling you are lying to me." He paused for a moment, "See, I _know_ you are lying to me. So how much is this stuff actually worth?" His blue eyes then locked onto the dark eyes of the appraiser who seemed to stiffen up at the look he was receiving, "I don't know whether this will convince you to not lie to me or not, but I'm worth a lot of money to be honest, like 45 million beli worth." He didn't know why, but he felt inclined to throw out his bounty, to see if it did anything. He didn't want to resort to the use of killing intent. That would be just too far.

The appraiser took a long hard look at Naruto before giving off an audible gulp, "My apologies sir, I must have gotten ahead of myself." He apologised quickly, trying all his best to not stutter. He took a quick look again at the treasure, "After a re-evaluation, I can safely say your treasure is worth 50 million beli."

Nojiko who had been looking between Naruto and the appraiser whilst they had their little interaction couldn't help but feel her jaw drop. Naruto grinned when he heard the new appraisal, "See, was that so hard?" The blue haired sniper in training sitting beside Naruto quickly grabbed and clutched his arm. Naruto looked at her, "Nojiko-chan?"

Nojiko's eyes were sparkling and for a moment, Naruto thought that they were in the shape of the beli sign, "Naruto-kun, we are going shopping."

Naruto sweat dropped, "Of course we are. Why not?" Maybe he could switch himself with a clone during the entire thing?

XxX

(With Konohamaru, Silk and Miss Valentine)

"So what exactly was the plan when you set foot of the ship?" Miss Valentine asked as they walked through town, not particularly doing anything other than window shop. She had wondered if any of her two guards had brought any money with them at all.

Konohamaru shrugged his shoulders as he walked along the rather busy street, "See the sights. See if there's anything interesting. Make sure you don't do anything funny of course."

Miss Valentine gave a mock gasp of shock, "I would never."

"Aha, yeah, whatever." The dark haired ninja replied dismissively, "Until this whole Baroque Works stuff has been firmly over and done with, you can expect to have me around for the foreseeable future."

Silk gave a nod of the head as she walked the other side of Miss Valentine, the lemon themed criminal herself being the middle of what was the sandwich between Konohamaru and Silk, "Me too as well." She was sure she could take Miss Valentine, especially after learning as to how she fought. As long as she wasn't hit or distracted, Silk was sure she could win.

The sunny blonde woman had a feeling there was something that Silk wanted to prove but couldn't be bothered to bring it up, "So are you two actually going to buy anything? Do you even have any money?"

"Of course we do." Silk said with a roll of the eyes. Naruto had passed around a hundred thousand beli to each of them before they had made port to go out and do whatever. Miss Valentine and Igaram of course had not been there for that particular moment in time, "It would be rather silly if we didn't."

"What she said." Konohamaru said, coming to the aid of his fellow teenager. As he walked, he ended up bumping shoulders with a man who's body was entirely covered in a dark coloured cloak and hood who seemed to be in a hurry as he walked, "Sorry about that." The young ninja apologised.

"It's fine, it's also my fault as well." Having said his piece, the cloaked man quickly disappeared into the crowds just as fast as he had appeared.

Silk looked in the direction of where the man had disappeared, "What was his problem?" Konohamaru could only give him a shrug for an answer.

Miss Valentine on the other hand seemed rather amused by the entire thing, "If he's trying to stay underneath the radar, he sure has a funny way of doing it." The others looked in her direction, their eyes showing their confusion. The cheerful blonde could only laugh at seeing their expressions, "Kyahaha, isn't it obvious, dark hood that covered his face and the whole cloak thing? He's someone who's trying very hard to not be identified. I wonder what he did."

Konohamaru resumed walking when he realised them stopping in the middle of the street was causing a disturbance for the other town folk who were simply going to and fro, "Well, let's just ignore it. It's not like it involves us or anything like that."

XxX

(With Naruto &amp; Nojiko)

"T-This is a Flintlock .44 Caliber Six Shot Revolver!" The man behind the counter stuttered as he looked at the gun that was laid out in front of him, "How did you get this weapon? This is one of the newest model of guns around. It's only been in circulation for less than half a year!"

Nojiko blinked in amazement at what she had been told, "Wow, it seems like you found something really rare Naruto-kun. Good job."

Naruto chuckled sheepishly at the praise, "Oh stop it you."

The weapon merchant stopped and pushed up his glasses, "It's not 'really rare' as you just said. It's more along the lines of the fact that it has yet to be fully supplied or spread out from South Blue."

Nojiko took back the revolver and placed it back in it's holster, "So does that mean you don't have another one of the same type?" Or several in case one was to break in a fight.

The merchant smirked, "I pride myself on being on the forefront of everything involving firearms. Of course I have some of that very same revolver in stock. It'll cost you though."

Nojiko smiled widely, "I'm more than willing to pay. We just came into a big payday anyway."

Naruto stood of at the side as he watched nothing in particular as Nojiko did her business. It seemed that over the time that she had been using the revolver, she had grown quite attached to it and had found herself preferring the revolver to the more standard flintlock pistol. Now that she had one, she wanted to have more than one in case the other broke.

'_I really hope she doesn't buy too many of those revolvers.' _He thought to himself. The merchant had said that it would cost them for the revolver that she was looking for, and hoped that it wouldn't be too much.

As he looked around the shop, he came to a strange sight. From where stood against the counter, he had a clear view of the entirety of the shop and the shop window that gave a view of the street. From what very same shop window, he saw a group of three men looking into the shop and pointing at him, before pulling out what seemed like a piece of paper, then looking back at him as the paper was passed around them before they ran off in the direction of the port.

Naruto just blinked in confusion before tilting his head to the side, "Well, that was just plain weird."

Nojiko glanced in his direction, "What was weird Naruto-kun?"

"It's nothing." Naruto said as he shook his head. It was probably nothing anyway, "Just some strange people, not that I'm not used to seeing strange people anyway. The world is strange after all."

Nojiko had a wry look of amusement on her face, "I don't want to hear that coming from you of all people."

XxX

(Port)

"Captain Buggy!"

Buggy turned his attention towards the approaching trio of henchmen. He watched them as they came closer before skidding to a halt in front of him, "What is it?"

The trio of pirates pulled out a large piece of paper which was a wanted poster. The picture of the poster held was that of a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes with a whisker marked face. He looked at the name, "Uzumaki Naruto, what about him?" He knew the name well enough. Apparently, he was the strongest pirate to ever come out of East Blue along with Straw Hat Luffy.

"He's in town!" One of the pirates shouted, "We just saw him like a couple of minutes ago."

Buggy blinked before looking at the wanted poster. He grabbed it straight out of the hands of the pirate that was holding it and looked down at it before grinning widely, "Uzumaki Naruto, eh? I suppose he won't mind being used as a stepping stone for Captain Buggy's ascendancy to greatness!" With a bounty that was more than double of his, if Buggy was to defeat him, he would surely gain notoriety and a bounty increase as well to show his new threat level. He turned around to look at the other pirates on the ship, "Alright boys, get ready, it's hunting time!"

The other pirates cheered as they pulled out swords and pistols.

Alvida came from below deck and noticed all the commotion that was happening aboard the ship, "What's happening?" She asked as she made her way to Buggy's side. Buggy passed her the wanted poster of Uzumaki Naruto. She raised an eyebrow at the wanted poster, "He's rather cute. Like a fox." The whisker marks only further served to enhance that.

Buggy ignored what his partner in crime had just said about the potential prey, "He's on the island and we are going after him."

Oh, was that so? That clearly gained her attention. At least it gave her something to do, "I'm sure he also had a first mate with a noticeable bounty on his head."

Buggy shrugged as he made his way towards the gangplank, "Who cares? Come on!"

XxX

(Elsewhere)

"You are a very difficult man to track down, Man-Demon." Hina said as she blocked the only way out of the dead end that she had corralled her prey into.

The man that had previously bumped shoulders with Konohamaru before quickly rushing of lowered his hood to reveal a slightly tanned man with short, scruffy hair, a scruffy beard and a moustache. The man also had dark rings around his eyes making him look like he lacked sleep, "And you are very persistent Captain Hina."

Hina's rouged lips quirked upwards slightly, "You didn't make it very difficult for Hina to find you." It was the whole body covering cloak thing that ruined it for him. He just looked like someone who was trying to hard to not be recognised. Hina held out her hands, "Now why don't you make it easier for yourself by letting Hina capture you again? Gin must know that he can not defeat Hina. Hina is too strong for him."

A look of determination came across Gin's face as he faced down his Marine opponent, "The least I can do is try and escape. I can't just throw in the towel now." It had taken him time to escape from the brig of the ship and now that he had escaped once, he was sure that he wasn't going to be allowed to do it again twice.

He had already been defeated once by her back in East Blue, but back then, he had his tonfas with him. Now he was weapon less. Instead of fighting, he was going to do the next best thing, try to run away and lose her somewhere in the crowds and this time, put on a less jarring disguise.

Hina held out her hands in front of her as she smirked, "Well then, Hina supposes she should capture you now. Hina is a very busy person."

* * *

**AN: Planned to have several battles in this chapter, but that would have stretched it, so I had to cut it short. The battles will come next chapter. The more savvy of the lot of you will probably(definitely) figure out why Gin is there. It's not really that hard to work it out.**

**Well, enjoy,**

**raidensokwl**


	9. Bread And Circuses

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece. They all belong to their respective owners_

* * *

Bread and Circuses

Naruto took a reflective moment to look around him. He took in the sights of the rather colorfully dressed number of men that were surrounding him and Nojiko, "I didn't know the circus was in town."

Nojiko had already had hands on her pistols the moment she had noticed that something was amiss. She was rather glad that she had taken the time to make a habit of carrying her weapons with her wherever she went, even if it was nothing more than a pistol, "Strange circus, if I have to say so. Why they are all carrying weapons is beyond me." That, and the reason that they seemed to have rather unfriendly smiles on their faces. She glared in the direction of her blonde captain, "Who did you piss off now?"

Naruto near completely forgot about their current situation as he was taken aback by the question, "No-one! Really, I haven't done anything!" He defended himself vigorously. Really, did she think that he would cause trouble and anyway, "I've been with you the whole time! There's no way I could have done something to piss someone off!"

Nojiko had to admit that there was some truth to that, but there was also one particular fault with Naruto's defence, "You can clone yourself."

The blonde jounin's mouth open and closed, imitating perfectly the expression of a fish. He really didn't exactly have something to return to that rather pointedly and accurate observation, but he liked to think that she would at least have more faith in him that he hadn't done such a thing, despite how completely and utterly resistible the option had been when he had been dragged around to one shop to another.

Naruto instead decided to take his attention to the circus crew that was surrounding him and his crew mate, "...So who are you guys? And what do you want with me?"

"We are the Buggy Pirates." One of the pirates said by-way of an introduction. Like many of the others, he spotted a clown theme when it came to his attire.

By now, a large group of bystanders had gathered to seemingly watch the large group of men, now identified as pirates, surrounding the group of two that consisted of Naruto and Nojiko. Some of the more saner citizens had decided that it was best to just turned around and start walking as far away as possible from the ensuing altercation that was surely to happen.

Nojiko was caught between drawing her pistol right then and there, or simply wait it out. Perhaps things weren't as dire as they seemed. There was always the chance that this was nothing more than a random event that they could talk their way out of without any trouble.

"We've come for you, Uzumaki Naruto."

And like that, Nojiko's hopes were shattered before they had even begun to form. She glared at with a side-way glance, "What did you do?" She was annoyed. She was supposed to be shopping, not getting into whatever was happening right now.

Once again, Naruto couldn't help but feel offended at the line of questioning. He defended himself vigorously, "Nothing! Honest! If I had pissed off a travelling group of circus performers, I'm sure you would know. Hell, everyone would know!" That, and he was sure that the ensuing beat down would have given said clowns 'Narutophobia' as he liked to term it, commonly known as PTSD.

After-all, when Naruto was done with them, they would be feeling whatever he had done to them at the mention of his name or anything that barely resembled him. Naruto would have made sure.

The blue haired gunner of the team made a sound, but didn't reply. She supposed Naruto had a point. Subtlety didn't seem to be Naruto's thing in truth. Perhaps he could be subtle, but she had yet to see it.

The clown themed pirates charged straight at them, "Get them!" Someone yelled as the pirates rushed forth.

Naruto looked around him as the mob of pirates closed in on him and Nojiko. He glanced side-ways at his female partner, "Well, I suppose this is a good a time as any for you to get some combat experience."

The female navigator/gunner whipped out her revolver pistol and emptied the six chambers. Cries of pain could be heard as six pirates were felled by Nojiko's gun accuracy. She didn't see herself or think of herself as a killer, but thanks to Naruto's training, she was more than confident that she would be able to take out the average joe without killing them by simply aiming and hitting the non-fatal spots.

Although she was aware that against far more lethal enemies than the ones she currently found herself fighting against, holding back might be the last mistake she could ever make.

Before the empty shells had even hit the ground, Nojiko was already reloading her pistol and was putting the last round into the chamber. She snapped the chamber shut and emptied it once more, felling down six more pirates that took down even more pirates as they crumbled to the floor. The pirates behind them slow witted to not be able to avoid them in time.

Naruto couldn't help but let out an appreciative whistle. That was certainly some gun play from his female crew mate. He was a better teacher than he thought. He really should start giving himself pats on the back for these like this, "Nice going, Noji-chan. Keep on going! At this rate, you'll take them all out by yourself!"

Nojiko ignored the praise, concentrating on the more immediate concern of the people attacking her and her captain, "You can praise me later, Naruto-kun. Right now is fight time, so fight."

The blonde ninja turned on his heel and charged towards the pirates coming at them from behind, "Alright-y then, I've got your six, you have mine, Konoha Senpuu (Leaf Whirlwind)!" Naruto threw himself at the nearest group of pirates in the form of a powerful spinning roundhouse kick.

"_Argh!"_ Some of the pirates cried out as his kick caught several pirates, sending them flying from the sheer force of it, but his attack wasn't done yet as a shockwave from the kick carried on, sending additional men flying without even needing him to touch them.

The various pirates found themselves crashing through shop windows, doors and walls. From behind him, Nojiko kept back stepping out of the reach of her own opponents whilst continuing to relentlessly fire her revolver into the group. If only she had two of these guns, and taking these lot down would be much less a task than it was now.

"Naruto-kun!" She called out, "Make sure to keep the collateral damage to a numb. I would really hate having to pay for all this!" She hadn't even finished shopping yet. There was still so much that she wanted to buy. It wouldn't do any good if that money was used instead to pay for the damages.

The blonde haired jounin danced between two pirates that were coming at him with bladed weapons, "What? I haven't even done anything yet! Why would you say that?" He dispatched both of his attackers with two simple, but powerful and effective taps to the back of the neck that knocked their lights right out.

Nojiko rushed through one of the holes Naruto had opened up during his initial attack and used it as a natural choking point for the pirates that rushed in after her, "What's this then!?" She asked from inside the building, "This wasn't here the last time I checked!"

Naruto ducked beneath a wave of bladed attacks before sweeping all of his attackers of their feet with a low kick before finishing them off with a quick set of rapid fire punches straight into their guts, "Berate me when you're not using my 'collateral damage' for your gain, Noji-chan! It doesn't work like that!"

The Buggy Pirates were beside themselves. They knew from the bounty that Uzumaki Naruto was probably one tough son of a bitch, but not _this_ kind of tough. He was running through them all like they were nothing.

It had all seemed rather simple. Surround the bastard and let their weight of numbers take care of the rest, but here he was, the blonde bastard running through them all like a hot knife through butter. They were of the mind that he wasn't even trying that hard, or even trying at all.

And that wasn't taking into account the girl that was with them. In all honesty, they had thought of her as nothing more than the blonde pirates' squeeze. They didn't actually think that she could _fight._

Some wanted to run when they started seeing how many of them were being mowed down with ruthless efficiency without even getting a hit in, not even once. But then, they remembered that their captain was Buggy the Clown.

Buggy would be more than displeased to learn of them running away from a fight. At least this Naruto guy didn't seem to be the killing them all kind.

"What the hell? We can't even touch him!

"He's a monster!"

Naruto heard what was being said, "Shouldn't have picked a fight with me then!" He all but yelled. Really, why where they even fighting him? They had never said.

Nojiko came rushing out of the building that she had been fighting in and amidst the chaos of the fight, Naruto's danger senses started going off. He looked around, his eyes scanning for the danger before he noticed a glint of light.

He quickly made some hand seals. Nojiko, as she ran, turned her body to look behind her and fire into the group of pirates chasing her, but her eyes widened slightly and she released a gasp from the back of her mouth when she saw a disembodied hand holding several knives like claws fly straight at her.

She couldn't dodge the way she was now, and anyway, the hand was moving too fast and it was way too close. All she could do was close her eyes and wait for the end, 'Nami!' She thought to herself. She didn't think that it would all end like this.

But whatever she expected to feel when one was stabbed, she didn't feel it. She had been shot and certainly knew what that was, and she expected being stabbed to be of a similar kind but she didn't feel anything. Perhaps the death had been a quick one.

"You can open your eyes, Noji-chan."

At the prompting from Naruto's voice, Nojiko opened her eyes and found herself surprised that she was standing next to Naruto on a nearby rooftop. She looked around, dumbfounded, "Okay, what just happened?" She looked at Naruto, "Did you do one of those ninja tricks of yours again?"

Naruto gave her a simple nod of the head as he indicated to the street below. When the fight had begun in earnest, the by-standers who had stayed behind to watch had quickly vacated the streets and that was left on the street below were the Buggy pirates that had attacked them. The one's still standing and the one's that weren't.

Nojiko looked at the last place she had been standing and was surprised to see a wooden log. She immediately connected the dots, "You did that log switchy thing of yours didn't you?" It was more of a statement than a question. She had seen him do it more than a couple of times during their training. It was a frustrating thing to be honest.

Whenever he felt like gloating his supposed supremacy, he would make it seem like Silk or her had finally been able to land a hit on him, act all surprised and stricken, but then promptly disappear to be replaced by a log. It got old.

Fast.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu."Naruto began, "Never leave home without it." He looked up at something in the sky, "I take it you're the guy who's hand that was."

Nojiko followed his line of sight and her jaw nearly dropped when she saw half a man floating in the sky like it was nothing. How he was alive considering that he was missing everything below his waist was a complete mystery to her.

The man was slim looking but yet muscular looking with an appearance that resembled that of a clown, much more than that of the other pirates that had attacked them. He had even gone the whole distance and had a big red nose on his face, along with facial markings.

The clown looking man had a wide grin on his face as he spoke. His disembodied hand flew back to his upper body and reconnected itself with the rest of his hand, "You got that right. And I can do so much more. Now why don't you save me the bother and turn yourself in, nice and quiet like?"

"What are you, a Marine? I don't think so." Naruto returned. He turned his head quickly when he picked up on something sliding on the ground and was surprised to see a woman with a large spikey mace sliding down the street on her bare feet at a fast speed, "How is she doing that?" Naruto would admit, he was intrigued.

That, and how exactly she was able to carry the ridiculous looking mace she had that was nearly or even double her size. Then he thought of Tsunade and Sakura. Looks could be deceiving.

The woman had a smile on her face as she neared the building the two were standing on before jumping up, her mace moved to the top of her ready to bring it down. She reached the apex of her jump and began to fall, and with that movement, she brought down her mace in a powerful swing that destroyed the building that Nojiko and Naruto were standing on.

The clown themed pirate that was lazily floating in the sky had something of an annoyed look on his face, "Hey! We were supposed to capture them!" Or better yet, he was to deliver the finishing blow. How was his reputation to increase if someone else finished off the people that he was meant to be fighting?

The woman landed easily on the ground and hoisted her mace onto her shoulder like it was nothing. She looked up at Buggy, "First time, I'm hearing of this. And what exactly did you plan to do with them?" She panned a hand around the destruction that they had caused, "If you hadn't realised yet, I doubt they would have been difficult to capture. It's easier this way."

"Nice of you to write us of as dead, just like that." Alvida eyes widened slightly as she heard a voice coming from behind her. She turned and jumped away to make some distance between the person who had been behind her and herself. Naruto and Nojiko were now standing back on the street, no worse for wear. The blonde was the one who was speaking, "Never think of anyone as dead until you see a body."

Alvida smiled easily at the blonde. She supposed if they had died just like that, it would have been far too easy, "Well, I guess this is what I should expect from the strongest pirate to ever come from East Blue. Forty-five million...I don't think any pirate from East Blue has ever been worth that much."

Naruto raised a finger to make a contention, "I'm not a pirate. That's all just a misunderstanding."

The slim, beautiful woman that Alvida was, was not particularly paying attention. Not even in the slightest, "Tell me, the rumours back home say that you fed an entire Marine ship along with it's crew to some kind of monstrous Sea King. Is that true?"

Naruto was confused. What the hell was a Sea King? But before that, he couldn't help but allow a stupid smile to come across his face. There were now rumours about his awesomeness being spread. Sure, the entire thing was bullshit, he had only fed the one Marine and the rest Kurama had taken care off, but a rumour was still a rumour.

And by the sounds of it, it had gone from one Marine to an entire ship.

Knowing how rumours worked and how with each telling, they would be exaggerated, he could already see himself apparently feeding an entire town to his 'Sea King' whatever that was...even if he would never do that.

Nojiko noticed the smile on Naruto's face. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. She smacked him on the back of the head to get him to come back to reality, "That's a complete and utter lie. Naruto would never do something like that. He had only fed the one Marine to his pet fox." She had to set the record straight before it blew up beyond help.

"Is that so? Sad really, personally, I think the entire feeding a Marine ship to a Sea King version to be rather sexy."

Naruto and Nojiko were stunned into silence. Naruto made to speak, but Nojiko beat him to the punch. Perhaps in worry about what exactly he would say to that comment, "So who are you guys anyway? Why did you pick a fight with us? I don't think we've ever done anything to you." The conversation had been going off track, it was time to get it back on track.

The half-man that had been floating above them floated down to the street below him, "Who are we? Don't you know, I'm Buggy the Clown! Greatest Pirate that has ever lived! And Captain of the Buggy Pirates."

Naruto and Nojiko shared a look between them before looking back at Buggy, "Can't really say that I've heard of you." Naruto admitted, but then again, he had a reasonable excuse. Pirates and all that shizazz were not his thing. He shouldn't be expected for him to know about them would he?

Unlike her captain, Nojiko at least knew who the pirate was. Even if she had heard of him from Nami's account's whenever she visited home from her stealing adventures, "He used to have the largest bounty in East Blue before you, Konohamaru and Luffy came along. Honestly, the only thing I'm surprised about is that his crew aren't called the Clown Pirates. He even has the big, red nose down and everything."

Alvida glanced in the direction of her erstwhile ally before shaking her head in amusement as she looked back towards the blue haired girl that had just spoke, "Oh girly, you shouldn't have said that." Who knew Buggy was so sensitive about his nose?

Buggy was near shaking with rage. He looked up, his eyes bloodshot, "This. Is. _My. _Nose!"

Nojiko was taken aback with surprise, "What, seriously?"

Buggy didn't reply, but instead detached his hands that held the blades and fired them straight at Nojiko. He was going to get her first, the blonde could wait. No-one made fun of his nose.

Naruto blocked the incoming bladed hands with his own kunai. From behind him, Nojiko peaked out of her blonde, man shield, her revolver in her hand. She fired off four rounds, straight at Buggy and Alvida. Buggy took off to the skies to dodge the bullets, whilst Alvida just stood there, a confident smirk on her face.

The bullets missed Buggy as she had evaded them, but to Naruto and Nojiko's surprise, when they hit Alvida, they seemed to just simply slip past her. Naruto cocked his head, "Okay, what was that? You better not have some intangible bullshit power." Fighting Obito had been difficult enough with the knowledge the bastard could just send parts of his body to another dimension to make himself intangible.

Alvida had a confident smile on her face as she spun her mace, "What can I say, I just have the smoothest skin. It allows, just about anything to slip off." She rushed the pair and swung her axe straight for Naruto head.

Naruto quickly pushed the standing Nojiko who was behind her away to keep her out of reach from the dangerous weapon before ducking underneath the swing. He swung his own leg for a low kick to Alvida's knee, but found himself making contact...but his leg immediately slipping off her.

He jumped away, confusion eminent on his face, "Okay, so I_ can_ hit you. That's good to know. Now, I just have to figure out how to make it stick. Fun."

Buggy had been silent ever since Nojiko had made the comment about his nose. He eventually spoke, his voice hiding a roaring, burning rage behind it's volume, "I'm so mad. I really am. So mad that words fail me. I'm going to kill you." And with that, he dived at Nojiko from above, recalling his hands to his arms. He was going to do this personally.

XxX

(Some Moments Before)

With the sound of breaking glass, Gin crashed through a window before roughly rolling on the ground and ending on his knees. He noticed the family of four that were surprised at his entrance, having been in the midst of lunch.

He quickly stood up and made a bow, "Apologies, but where is the front door?" One of the four, the mother pointed dumbly in the direction of the house. Gin nodded before running out of the dining room, "Thank you."

The family watched the tanned man leave in a hurry, breathing heavily and with more than a few bruises. Not long after her left, they found themselves surprised by another unwanted guest, coming through the very same window that Gin had crashed through.

Hina looked around, smoke lazily rising from her lit cigarette. She noticed the family, "By any chance, has Gin come through here? Gin is a dangerous pirate." They dumbly nodded and once again, they pointed in the direction of the front door. She nodded, "Hina thanks you." She said before rushing after the pirate.

The father of the family looked at the window before something clicked. He immediately stood up, "Hey!" He shouted after the woman, "Who's going to pay for my window!?" He didn't receive a reply. Instead, he heard another crash, a crash that sounded like the sort you would hear from a wall being broken, "And for that! Who's going to pay for that!?" Because he certainly wasn't going to.

With Gin, he rushed onto the streets, with Hina straight on his heels. He had tried fighting, but after having fought her before, he knew that he was well at a truly difficult disadvantage simply because of how her powers worked.

He couldn't hit her without Captain Hina's own powers coming into play. He supposed a gun would have seen the fight between them go in a different route, but Gin didn't have a gun, or any weapon on his person. That was the thing.

And also, their 'fight' wasn't much of a fight. It was more of Gin running away from her without getting caught and she chasing him. Sometimes, he would throw stuff at her, or use any sort of impromptu weapon that he could get his hands on, force her back, just a little bit before running away once more.

He supposed 'Black Cage' Hina deserved her reputation. After all, she had been the one to capture him and Krieg along with that other Marine that they couldn't even very well hurt. He always turned into smoke whenever they tried to hit him.

Gin rushed down the street, avoiding the normal citizens as best as he could, but sometimes, he would need to barge his way past a particular group of them, if going round or avoiding them was difficult or impossible. He needed to lose Hina, in a crowd or something like that, but it was getting late and the streets were thinning out.

He was quickly brought out of his musings when Hina suddenly appeared in front of him, hand outstretched as if she was about to clothesline him. Having seen it happen before, he immediately rolled underneath her outstretched arm and kept on sprinting when he had gotten back to his feet.

He chanced a glance back at Hina who had resumed chasing after him. How the hell had she gotten in front of him? She hadn't even over-taked him or anything like that. And in truth, all she had to do was run her arm through him or his legs and that would be the end of it. She didn't need to completely overtake him for that to happen.

Gin took a sharp corner and nearly ended up bowling into a group of three, "Hey! Watch it!" One of the three, a young man with brown hair shouted at him, straight into his face, "I swear, you are the second guy to do that today. What's wrong with you people? Does no-one have any manners whatsoever?"

He was about to apologise before he realised that he was a little bit busy at the moment. Busy running away from a woman that was going to throw him into Impel Down. And he had heard stories about that place.

They would have to drag his cold, dead body there before anything else.

"Gin stop running." Captain Hina called out from behind him, as she rounded the corner as well. Gin nearly broke his neck turning around in surprise, he had about damn well neared forgot about her, "Gin cannot escape from Hina. It's useless running. Gin should just give himself-." Hina stopped mid-sentence as she looked at the three youths that stood in front of Gin.

She didn't know the blonde one, but she certainly had seen the other two before. Unbidden, her rouged lips spread into a smile. Today just seemed to be Hina's lucky day, "Hina can't help but feel so happy, to be able to capture three wanted pirates in one day." She shook her head, "So happy." And if the 'Devil Monkey' was here, then the boy's captain, Uzumaki was somewhere to be found on the island. She would get it out of the boy.

It took a moment for Konohamaru to recognise that the 'Devil Monkey' was him. His epithet was something he had not yet got used to, "Uh, I'm probably going to regret this, but who are you?" He asked, pointing lately at the woman with the pink hair and pink suit.

Hina placed a hand on her hip, "This is Captain Hina of the Navy. And Captain Hina is to capture you three as fugitives of the World Government. Dead or alive." She added as an afterthought.

Silk grumbled to herself, "Of course it would be a Marine. Who else could it be?" By the looks of thing, it seemed like the Marine had yet to come to the conclusion that she was with Konohamaru.

Miss Valentine blinked for a moment before she allowed a cheerful laugh to escape her mouth, "If you hadn't realised something dear, there's three of us, and one of you." And she was certain that the monkey kid would be enough just by himself to take on this Marine.

Hina still had that smile on her face, despite the pointing out of the odds against her, "I suppose that makes it a bit of a challenge, Miss Valentine." She made a note to capture Miss Valentine alive if at all possible. The Navy knew of the organisation that she worked for, but not much about it. Her inside knowledge about Baroque Works could very well come in handy in mapping out it's activities, "Not much of a challenge, but a challenge, nonetheless."

Konohamaru gave the woman a dry look. He wanted to say something loud and demeaning about looking down on others, but it was okay. She had yet to actually to be taught of how awesome he actually was. He smiled to himself as he nodded. It was all okay, she was just naïve, she didn't know any better.

He punched his palm, "I'm going to make you eat those words." She might not know any better, but that didn't mean that he was going to go easy on her.

Gin looked at the apparent group of pirates he had supposedly run into. Four against one seemed far better odds than one against one, but the pirates were kids. They were young. This could all be bluster. Then he remembered Luffy, Sanji and Zoro. Those were all kids, and they had taken on the Krieg Pirates and won.

He turned to them and offered some advice, "Fighting her isn't going to be easy."

Silk glanced at the older man, "She's a Marine captain. I doubt she would be easy to fight, anyhow." The way she held herself, it reeked of confidence in her abilities. In the way that could be translated that she would be willing to stand against the strongest person in the world at the drop of a hat.

Gin nodded. He surmised that he liked this girl. There was a certain simplicity to her logic, "But fighting her is _really_ difficult, especially when it comes to physical attacks. She isn't known as 'Black Cage' Hina for nothing."

Konohamaru was about to say something but the words that were going to come out of his mouth were very different from the ones that actually did, "Duck!" He followed his own advice and ducked as Hina rushed past them, hands outstretched.

Gin had tackled Silk to the ground to avoid the incoming attack when he had sensed Hina moving. Miss Valentine had quickly opened up her parasol and used her Devil Fruit powers to make herself lighter and float up into the sky.

Konohamaru pulled out a kunai and quickly threw it behind him at the pink-suited marine. Hina sensed the bladed object flying towards her and with a bare hand batted it away. The sound that resulted from the collision of metal and skin sounded a lot like the collision of that would occur between metal and metal.

"Okay, what was that?" Miss Valentine asked as she dropped back down to earth. She closed her parasol and eyed the female marine with a more cautious look, "You just slapped away a knife. People don't do that. And when they do, they get cut, stabbed and bleed. None of that happened."

The pink haired, cigarette smoking marine turned around and released a plume of smoke from her mouth, "Hina is a lot tougher than she looks." She disappeared from sight, right in front of the group of four.

She was fast, faster than the others could track her, but Konohamaru was able to and was quick enough to evade the next attack as he jumped away from the others. Gin and Silk were still on the ground and thus by virtue of their current predicament were unharmed by Hina's attack.

That couldn't be said the same for Miss Valentine as she found herself being struck by Hina's outstretched arm, surprise evident on her face. She hadn't even seen her move. She had expected for the air to be knocked out of her, what she hadn't expected was to find her arms trapped on her sides because of a large iron shackle that had appeared from where Hina had struck her.

The yellow themed, normally sunny pirate struggled against the shackle, "Okay, what just happened?"

"Hina happened." The marine said before turning her attention towards the down Gin and Silk. She raised back her leg to kick them whilst they are on the ground and let her powers do the rest. She had to quickly change that idea when Konohamaru joined the fray, arm drawn back for a punch. She turned on her dime and changed her low kick into a high sweep kick, aimed straight for him.

Legs were longer than arms and thus, Hina's kick had more range to it. She made contact first. Konohamaru frowned when he felt the contact as he had seen what had happened to Miss Valentine. The marine's arm had gone seemingly through the sunny woman and when it had passed, iron shackles were all that remained.

He quickly pulled off a kawarimi and instead of him being shackled, a log had taken that fate for him. He looked at Gin and Silk who had quickly gotten to their feet and scrambled away to give Hina some distance, "You were right. She is a difficult opponent." He said to Gin. If all she had to do to take them down was make people pass through them, physical attacks would all be rather difficult to do.

Gin didn't allow the satisfaction of being vindicated distract him from the fact that they were still in a pretty tight spot, "I don't think fighting is an option. I suggest we run." If they split up, Hina would have to chase one of them down instead of all of them.

"Running isn't an option." Hina said as she surprisingly made some distance between them, confusing the others. She allowed a knowing smirk to come across her features, "Hina will just capture all of you in a moment." She stretched out her hands in front of her, "Awase Baori (Lined Kimono Feather Cage)!" She surrounded the area around Konohamaru and the others with a fence like cage of bars that came from her arms. She didn't need to worry about any civilians getting caught in her attack as they had all done a runner when they had realised a fight was just about to occur.

Konohamaru, Silk and Gin saw what was about to occur and immediately jumped up as the fence closed in on them. Gin and Silk landed on a nearby rooftop with Konohamaru on the rooftop opposite them. Silk was amazed that she had been even able to jump onto a roof on her _own_ strength. It seemed all that hell Naruto was periodically putting her through was actually making her stronger.

"You know what, I really hate you guys." Miss Valentine griped at the lot of them from the street below. She hadn't been able to float away as the shackles weighed her down and thus when Hina had attacked, she had been nothing but easy pickings, "Thanks for helping me out here. I hate you all."

Silk looked down at Miss Valentine, "Well, to be honest, you weren't really a factor in the fight." She smirked, "And now, you look a far more fitting image of a prisoner." Miss Valentine glared in the direction of Silk but didn't say a word.

Konohamaru was still thinking about how to go about this fight before an idea came to mind. Hina was able to stop physical attacks such as punches and all that, but how was she against physical attacks like jutsus? Genjutsus were immediately thrown out of the window since he didn't know any and he sucked at genjutsu.

But what he didn't suck at was ninjutsu. And he had a lot of it. A wide grin came onto his face, "Alright, I think I've had enough of this. I have places to be and things to do." He said, speaking down to Hina on the street.

"Only if you can beat me." Hina said in reply. She might have been confident on the outside, but she was cautious nonetheless. This was a man with the third highest bounty in all of East Blue, and a staggeringly young age as well.

It would be just downright unprofessional of her to simply looked down at him because of that. And if he was confident that he could defeat her, then it was a boast to take seriously. It could very well mean the difference between life and death, for him, and for her.

She raised her eyebrow in confusion when the boy started doing strange signs with his hands in the blink of an eye. Then he slammed his hands on the rooftop, "Doton: Doryuso (Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears)!"

Years of fighting against pirates and being in constant danger had allowed Hina to fine tune a sense for danger. And that sense was screaming alarm bells in her head. She quickly moved from where she had been standing not long afterwards and where she had been standing, spikes erupted from the ground that could very well have ended up in them skewering her.

Hina looked at the spikes that had formed from the stone of the street. She then looked up at Konohamaru, "...I see your bounty is well deserved." What was that anyway? A Devil Fruit? The strangest Devil Fruit she had ever seen if it required those hand signs to be done to start the ability. Or perhaps it didn't need those hand signs and he did them merely because he could. Rather ineffectual if you asked her, "Hina will have to take you seriously, now." Spikes made from stone was something that she could not capture.

Konohamaru made the Tiger seal, "I'm not done yet! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" Two copies of him appeared and immediately launched themselves Hina. They would either be dispelled or captured by the marine's abilities, but that would ultimately serve their purpose as a distraction.

He figured that after seeing him do hand signs, and seeing what would happen when he finished them, he doubted Hina would just allow him to stand there and make them. He certainly wouldn't.

Hina raised an eyebrow as the clones made their way towards her, 'He can make clones of himself? That's a surprise.' Earth or stone manipulation and now clones? Just what kind of devil fruit did this boy eat?

She quickly dispatched, destroying one and capturing the other only for it to disappear in a puff of smoke. She quickly looked at the original and noticed that he had disappeared from sight. She quickly looked around to try and notice him before he did anything else.

Her senses went off once more, but this time, they were a little bit late as hands erupted from the ground and grabbed her at the ankle. She looked down, "Wha-." She didn't finish of her word as she was immediately pulled down by the hands, leaving her head the only one above ground.

Konohamaru appeared in front of her, squatting down and a silly little grin on his face. He tapped her on the head, "And that will be that. Later!" He said before running off to free Miss Valentine.

Hina blinked in surprise before shouting after him, "Hey! Release Hina now! Or Hina will be made!" She struggled to free herself, but it was an exercise in futility as her body was trapped underground. She sighed as she stopped struggling. She looked at Konohamaru as he helped Miss Valentine, "This is not over," She began quietly, "Far from it."

It took a little bit of doing and a jutsu here and there, but Konohamaru eventually got Miss Valentine released from her shackles. She didn't seem at all amused by it though. Gin and Silk soon joined them, with Gin occasionally looking towards the marine captain that was busy giving them the evil eyes, "Huh, you are a lot stronger than I thought you were."

Konohamaru grinned, "The strongest." He then looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking, "Wanna come with us?" He offered, taking the others by surprise.

Gin was taken aback by the offer, "You want me to come with you?" He repeated for confirmation. Konohamaru nodded, "Why?"

The Konoha ninja shrugged his shoulders, "Why not? You're a wanted man, I'm a wanted man. With the Marines around, I doubt you'll have an easy time leaving the island. Might as well leave with us then. Pretty sure the boss wouldn't mind."

Silk looked unsure about that, "Are you sure Konohamaru? That marine did say he was a pirate."

"So are we." Konohamaru returned in deadpan, "Well, according to the powers that be, anyway. We're not really pirates, but people wanted by the World Government cause we beat up some Marines. In our defence, they were total douches." The young teen said as he went into more detail for Gin's sake.

Gin thought about it for a moment. He was being offered a way of the island and only a fool would turn it down, especially in his current circumstances. He nodded, "Sure, on one condition."

"Hmm?"

"I won't be a part of your crew." That was the one thing Gin was resolute about, "When we reach the next port, we go our separate ways."

Konohamaru looked at the man, amusement in his eyes. He threw his hands behind his back and began to lead the way back to their ship, "All I did was offer you a way off the island, mate. What you do afterwards is all up to you."

XxX

(With Naruto &amp; Nojiko)

In truth, Naruto could have finished off this fight between Nojiko, himself and the two pirates that had attacked them with little effort on his part. By the looks of things, both were Devil Fruit users and Naruto had been made aware of the rather curious weakness of these fruits.

A quick Suiton jutsu and he would be done. It wouldn't need to be anything big, just enough to cause damage.

But he didn't. Why? Because the reason why, was only a few feet away fighting against the other pirate, the clown one, who, apparently was not a clown, despite everything to the contrary. Nojiko needed fighting experience.

Sure, Naruto would admit that whenever he trained with Nojiko, he made sure to hurt her so that she could get used to pain, slowly but surely, her endurance was slowly increasing with each punch, each kick he had landed on her. But there was only so much training by itself could do. She needed experience as well, experience fighting against enemies that were out to just outright kill her, like Buggy.

Of course, he made sure to keep an eye on proceedings just in case he needed to step in and intervene. That Buggy guy might have seemed like joke, but the current Nojiko didn't actually have much of a chance against the guy. Her evasive skills were the only thing seemingly keeping her from taking something that could be rather fatal.

So Buggy the Clown wasn't a wimp. If it had been anyone else than him, the guy might probably have made a good account of himself if they had fought in a fight.

Oh wait, now that he thought about it, there was Silk as well. What was he to do about her? She needed fighting experience as well, 'She had been complaining about wanting to fight someone.' He looked at the woman, Alvida if he remembered correctly that he had been 'fighting' against.

She seemed rather short of breath and had an annoyed look on her face. He thought about it and disregarded the thought of just finding Silk, grabbing her and letting the two duke it out. Alvida's abilities would have made victory all but impossible for Silk.

Naruto on the other hand had been more than willing to just let Alvida swing around that giant mace of hers like no tomorrow, dodging all the way.

"You're not even taking this seriously, are you?" Alvida asked. Her mace was set into the ground, allowing her to lean on it as she took in deep breaths. She had gone at him with everything she had got, but that didn't even seem to faze him.

Hell, he didn't even look the tiniest bit tired or exerted from the amount of moving he had been doing in dodging her attacks. Perhaps picking a fight with a guy with a bounty of over 40 million hadn't been the smartest idea.

Naruto was quiet for a moment before answering. He shrugged his shoulders, "Sort off. Not really your fault to be honest. You're plenty strong, it's just I'm rather out of your league."

Alvida blinked, but she couldn't help but laugh at the candour, "Well, I applaud you for your honesty. Although I'll admit, I'm slightly pissed off that you are just disregarding me like that."

The blonde ninja held up his hands in a placating manner, "I'm not disregarding anyone. Like I said, I'm just being honest." He stopped for a moment and squinted his eyes, "...Is that a lion?"

Indeed, it was a lion. A giant beast of a lion with a golden brown fur and deep pink mane that had a rather fierce looking expression on it's face as it made it's way down the street. A giant lion in a street wasn't the only odd thing, but it's choice of companions.

Sitting on top of the lion, seemingly riding said lion was a man with white hair that was styled to seemingly resemble a lion's mane. He wore a some sort of fur shirt that had no sleeves and showed his abs with blue pants and a yellow sash tied around it.

Riding on a unicycle beside the lion and it's rider was another tall, slender man with a rather unique looking hair cut that covered half his face. He wore a large white and blue checkered scarf that covered the lower portion of his face, a sleeveless brown coat and white pants that were held up by a blue sash finished off with white shoes.

"Captain Buggy!" The man with hairstyle that resembled that of a lion called out.

Buggy stopped his attacks on Nojiko to look back at his crew members, "Mohji! Did you find the other one?"

Mohji, the lion riding member of the two shook his head. The group of two men and a lion came to a halt not far from the group of fighters, "No captain."

Buggy made a grumbling sound before speaking, "Oh well, let's take care of these first, then we can find the other one!" Buggy's upper body suddenly split off into several pieces that floated around randomly as bullets whizzed past where he had been floating before, "But the girl's _mine._ Cabaji, Mohji, take the blonde!" He still hadn't taken his pound of flesh on the girl who had made fun of his nose.

No-one made fun of his nose. Not even Whitebeard.

Mohji directed the lion in Naruto's direction and pointed at him, "Alright Richie! Let's get him! I'll give you a treat later! _Yah_!" He kicked his heels into the lion and in response the lion roared and launched itself in the direction of Naruto, it's mouth wide open and claws raised to tear and shred him into pieces.

Mohji was still riding on the lions back, a wide, vicious looking grin on his face as the lion neared Naruto. Alvida shook his head, "Oh this isn't going to be pretty. Shame really, you really are rather cute."

Naruto gave her a dry look, "After everything you've seen me do, you think I'll lose to a cat?"

"We'll see if you'll be calling Richie a 'cat' after he's done with you!" Mohji yelled from Richie's back. The lion neared Naruto, suddenly stopped, reared up which ended up in the lion throwing Mohji of it's back and onto the ground. Mohji crashed with a thud on the ground, immediately set up and was wide-eyed at the sight in front of him. Richie had gone from fierce Richie to playful Richie as he wagged his tail from side to side as Naruto scratched it's mane, "Richie! What the hell are you doing?"

Richie turned to spare a glance at Mohji before going back to enjoying the rubbing it was receiving from Naruto. The ninja in question answered the pirates question, "Ah yeah, nature loves me." One of the good things about being a Sage and being so in tune with nature was that animals seemed to find you a swell guy to hang around with.

Mohji shot up to his feet, "Richie, stop that right now! You're embarrassing me dammit!" It was like Orange Town all over again, but without the pummelling he had received. He brought out his whip and whipped it in Naruto's direction, "Dammit Richie, Special Sideshow!"

Naruto saw the attack coming and merely switched places with Alvida. The beautiful pirate blinked for a moment as she found herself bound at the waist by Mohji's whip and at the surprise that she was now standing in a complete different place than the one she had been standing on before, "Hey! Let me go this instance!" She yelled at Mohji after her wits returned to her. It just had to be her luck that she had ended up with a group of complete incompetents.

Mohji's expression was that of sheer mortification as he realised what he had done. Oh, he was going to pay for this. Behind him, he could hear some chuckling, "Shut up Cabaji!" He snapped at the unicycled man.

Cabaji casually wheeled up to come to a halt beside Mohji, "I think this is the most pathetic thing you have ever done." He turned his head to look at Naruto as he drew out a sword and knife from within his coat, "Don't think I'll be as easy as this fool right here."

Naruto wasn't paying attention to any of that though. He was paying attention to the weapons the unicycle riding man had brought out. He smiled widely, "Hold that thought." He quickly materialised a shadow clone that immediately disappeared off somewhere in a Shunshin. He stayed behind to continue watching the fight between Nojiko and Buggy, ready to step in just in case, "As much as you would love to fight me, can we just wait a couple of moments?"

The man scoffed, "To allow you to catch your breath?" He said, quickly wearing off at the surprise of a person seemingly cloning himself.

"Nah, nothing like that. I just have to go and get someone." He pointed in the direction of Nojiko and Buggy's fight, "Whilst we wait, why don't we watch my best girl beat up your captain?"

"Bara Bara Ho (Split Split Cannon)!" Holding a knife in his hands, Buggy launched them in the direction of Nojiko. Seeing a rather bloody end at the attack connecting, Nojiko took cover in a nearby building as she jumped through a window and immediately scrambled and pressed herself tight against the wall. The hands flew by past her and she took that chance to peak up from her cover and return fire to her opponent.

Buggy dodged her attack as easily as he had been doing all day as he recalled his hands back to him, "Just lie down and take it, girly!"

"No! I won't just lie down and take it!" Nojiko yelled back from inside the building as she reloaded her gun. This was getting silly, why was Naruto just standing there? Did he think she couldn't see him just watching all of this with those other pirates? "Why the hell are you coming after me so much anyway? I'm not even the captain, Naruto is! Shouldn't you two be duking it out!? That's how the way it's supposed to go!"

With his hands reattached to his arms, Buggy launched himself at the building that Nojiko was taking cover in, arms crossed and his knives held at ready to cut and dice her up, "Because you made fun of my nose!"

Nojiko was nearly floored by the sheer stupidity of the reason given to her. He was gunning after her because of that? "Well, it's your fault for wearing such a stupid looking thing in the first place!" She scrambled away from the window when he saw Buggy coming right at her, his eyes blood shot and a furious looking expression on his face. He was gritting his teeth together so hard, the blue haired gunner could be forgiven for thinking that he was going to break them.

"It's my real nose you bitch!" Buggy roared back as he crashed through the broken window, his knives flaying about wildly, aiming to cut and tear Nojiko.

Nojiko nearly stumbled from the sheer shock of it all as she kept back-tracking away from Buggy's wild attacks, "What, no way!" That thing was real? Wow, no wonder he was mad about it. She supposed she would be really sensitive as well if she had to go through life with that thing on her face. It was like a giant red pimple, "Why the hell do you go around dressed like a clown? It doesn't help!" And why was she making small talk with the guy that was trying to kill her?

"It's fashion!"

'No it wasn't' Nojiko wanted to say, 'but to each their own' She mused.

Nojiko was no match for Nojiko in close range. She knew it, Buggy knew it. That was one of the reasons why she had been running around like a headless chicken away from Buggy and limited him to his strange ranged attacks with his body parts.

Buggy pushed her back, further back into the house. Buggy's assault had pushed her back into the hall way of the house they were in and she was desperately using her pistol as a make-shift shield as she blocked as many of the pirate's attack with it.

She definitely knew that by the end of all this, she wasn't going to be using this particular gun anytime soon, 'I can't believe I'm actually thanking Naruto-kun for all those stupid exercises he made me do.' Naruto's training exercises, painful as they were, seemed to be coming in hand at this very moment as she danced and weaved her way round any of Buggy's attacks that broke through her make shift defence that involved her revolver.

Taking a quick glance of her surroundings, Nojiko noticed the stairs and quickly lashed out with a kick when a chance presented itself. Buggy drew back to avoid the kick, giving Nojiko a small window of opportunity to run up the stairs. She was about to reload her pistol before she noticed the beating it had taken.

It wasn't going to be used any time soon, "Dammit!" She cursed underneath her breath.

Buggy was immediately on her case by the time she had bound up the last of the steps, she turned to fend him off again only to raise an eyebrow when she noticed that he had completely stopped mid-flight, an annoyed look on his face. She just looked at him, confusion on her face and he just looked back, almost embarrassed.

"Okay, what?" The sound of quickly approaching foot steps attracted her attention. She was pleasantly surprised to see the missing lower half of Buggy's body coming rushing into view, running towards them.

And Buggy was on her case again, just like that.

And with that, Nojiko had learned something, if by the sudden pause in combat that had happened only a few moments ago. His upper body flying about didn't have an unlimited range. No, there was a range and that range was dictated by how far away his lower body was.

Okay, she could use that. She just had to figure out how.

Their deadly dance of Buggy's attacks that consisted of slashing, swipes and thrusts with Nojiko defending as best as she could was stopped for a moment as the blue haired navigator turned tail for a moment to jump out of a nearby window.

The worst thing she could have possibly done as Buggy immediately saw an opportunity that the enclosed surroundings of the building they had been in, limited his attack options, "Bara Bara Festival!" He proudly declared.

Nojiko landed on the street to find herself surrounded by a multitude of Buggy's body parts in no particular direction, stopping her from escaping as they formed a wall around her, "Oh, this can't be good."

"No, it's not!" Buggy's disembodied head yelled, "Now die!" Random body parts immediately started flying at her, aiming to pummel her into submission. Nojiko dodged as many of them as best as she could, but some of them would hit her nonetheless as they would come at her at an angle that she couldn't see.

Nojiko took a pummelling as she found it more and more difficult to dodge with each subsequent successful hit Buggy was able to land with his various body parts. She saw something glint and she was barely able to dodge one of Buggy's hands that held four knives like claws in it's hand.

She didn't see the other hand that came up from behind her, but the distinctive _clang_ of steel on steel told her that Naruto was indeed paying attention and looking out for her. It was just up to her to defeat her opponent or if she was really in deep trouble, Naruto would jump in if she asked for help.

But she just wasn't going to just yet.

Nojiko dropped to the ground as the pummelling continued, but she kept her eyes scanning the area around her, ignoring the pain and Buggy's laughter. Then she caught sight of her prize, but she didn't have much of a target, 'Time to see how good Naruto's training actually is.'

She painfully removed a shard of glass that she had kept on her person from inside the house as a just in case. She waited until the odds of her actually making the shot increased, even if by the tiniest of margins.

Her chance came and she threw the shard of glass at the pair of Buggy's feet that were mulling about outside the circle of body parts that Buggy had erupted around her. Buggy had been to busy laughing to even notice what she had been doing.

His scream of pain was music to her ears as far as Nojiko was concerned. Buggy's sudden scream had derailed his concentration and his attack stopped, his disembodied body parts starting to float about aimlessly.

Her body bruised and aching, Nojiko got to her feet and made her way to one particular body part that she had her eyes on. She reached it and drew back her feet, "This is for ruining my shopping spree!" She yelled as she unleashed a furious kick straight into the groin of Buggy.

Buggy never got to scream as the pain was so intense that his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he started frothing at the mouth as he lost unconsciousness. Nojiko was able to keep herself from passing out as well and was rewarded by seeing Buggy's body parts start dropping to the ground as gravity took effect.

She swayed on her feet and was about to fall but was caught by someone. She looked up, "I won."

Naruto smiled down at her, "I saw."

"I'm _so_ going to kick your ass later." Nojiko mumbled as she finally allowed darkness to take her.

"I figured as much." Was Naruto's reply as he allowed his Healing Power to pass into Nojiko and heal her wounds as best as he could, "We need a doctor." He said more to himself than anyone. The blonde ninja was very proud of Nojiko, she had won and it had been a bloody fight, but she had won. And he only had to intercede just a couple of times, far less than he thought would need to. He looked behind him, "Hey Silk, how are you holding up? Need my help? Noji-chan didn't need my help and I've only been training her for a couple of weeks compared to you!"

"Shut up!" Silk shouted angrily at the blonde as she traded strikes with Cabaji, "I can handle this! I don't need your help! I'm actually _fighting_ someone!" She didn't know whether to be terrified or ecstatic. She was actually fighting someone, it just had to be repeated. She could now finally see how far she had come from back when she had left her village.

If she could defeat this pirate, it would mean that she was actually making progress towards her dream. Although in truth, she wanted to have words with her captain about how exactly this situation had suddenly come to be.

They had been making their way back to their ship, with that man, Gin, included. Then all of a sudden Naruto had appeared in front of them, with a big, wide, silly grin on his stupid, whiskered face scaring the life out of her and the others, apart from Gin and Konohamaru.

Without even a word or anything, he had just grabbed her, used that stupid thing he called a Shunshin to make the world go a blur and then drop her right in front of this idiot with the unicycle. And Naruto had expected her to fight the guy.

Without a weapon of any kind.

The nerve of him. One of these days, she was going to kick his ass if it was the last thing she would ever do. No matter how grateful she was to him, "Your captain's been defeated and your friends are down for the count as well. You're the only one left." Silk taunted. A good taunt could go a long way, "I'm surprised you aren't just giving up. Running for the hills and the likes."

Cabaji had a confident look on his face, but he wasn't feeling confident at all as he rode his unicycle towards Silk. In all honesty, by now he should be riding for the hills, but the blonde captain was scary fast. He couldn't even track him, the only hope of escaping this entire thing was to capture the brat in front of him and use her as a human shield.

"I never run little girl." Cabaji retorted as he drove at her, attacking her with strikes from the left, from the right, from below and from above. But the infuriating little girl was able to meet her blow for blow. He took in a deep breath, "Kyokugi! Kaji Oyaji (Acrobatics! Old Man's Flame)!" Cabaji breathed out fire into Silk's face in an attempt to blind her and cause some damage whilst he was at it.

Perhaps he might even burn out those eyes of hers. He had been training harder than ever, ever since Roronoa Zoro beat him back in Orange Town and the results had been showing ever since they entered the Grand Line. They had survived for this long hadn't they? On a sea that ate up your average pirate crew like it was nothing.

"Nice try!" Silk yelled as she quickly jumped away to escape the short ranged surprise attack. He had seen enough people breathe in (Naruto and Konohamaru) only to launch some kind of hideous attack on her that hurt her more than she liked that she now made it a habit to always be on the wary of people who suddenly take in deep breaths during a fight.

As far as she was concerned, that meant it was time for her to make some space.

"I know people who can do waaay better stuff than that." Silk launched herself at her opponent. Cabaji stabbed out at her with his sword and she spun around it, bringing her own sword into a sweeping slash that was aimed for his neck.

The unicycle riding swordsman widened an eye in surprise at Silk's defence that flowed into an attack. He couldn't bring back his sword to make a guard, but he still had the dagger in his other hand and he quickly brought that up to block the strike.

The blow from Silk's attack nearly made Cabaji fall to the ground if he hadn't shot out his leg to the ground to steady himself. He was shocked, that was some strength coming from a skinny looking girl, 'Okay, this might be tougher than I thought.' He brought back his long sword and began spinning it around really quickly, kicking up a small cloud of dust around them, "Kyokugi! Yukemuri Satsujin Jiken (Acrobatics! Murder Case in the Hot Spring's Steam)!"

Silk squinted her eyes slightly and brought up her one free hand to protect her eyes from the dust that had been kicked up, "Hey! That's cheating!"

From somewhere outside the dust cloud, she heard Naruto's voice yell out, "If you aren't cheating, you're not trying very hard! Cheating is life!"

Cabaji used the opportunity to lash out a kick that caught the blonde haired swordswoman in the side and with the force of it, sent her flying. Silk let out a cry as she landed roughly on the ground and rolled for a bit before quickly getting to her feet.

Naruto hit harder. Konohamaru hit harder. Gama hit _way_ harder. That wasn't enough to take her down.

"Kyokugi! Kamikaze Hyakkoma Gekijo (Acrobatics! Theater of One Hundred Kamikaze Tops)!" From the dust cloud, hundreds of spinning tops were launched in the direction of Silk. Silk started batting them away from the moment the first one had come within range of her sword. Cabaji emerged from the dust cloud as it cleared, a pleased look on his face, "As if it's that easy!"

The spinning tops suddenly exploded without any warning, leaving the area that Silk was in a small, smoking crater.

Cabaji laughed as he saw the crater his attack had created. Then he stopped as something hit him. The girl was his ticket out of here. And he had just gone and blew her up. Right in front of her captain. For some pirates, that was cause enough for them to go berserk, for others, they simply did not care.

He glanced at Naruto and saw that the blonde hadn't even moved from his position. He had the other girl, the blue haired one slung over a shoulder. It seemed as if the blondie was of the more 'I don't care' variety.

Good, because honestly, Straw Hat Luffy was an oddity to say the least among pirates.

A shadow loomed over him and Cabaji looked up to see what it was. His eyes widened when he saw Silk come down at him, sword poised for an attack, "Oh shit!" The pirate swordsman started working his legs to paddle his unicycle backwards to avoid the incoming attack.

Silk brought down her sword in slash, but missed Cabaji by a hair's breath as he beat a retreat, "I'm not done yet!" She yelled as she quickly got up, took a step forward and swung her sword, "Dainidankai (Second Step)!" With a horizontal second swing of her sword, she released a shockwave of energy that raced towards the retreating Cabaji who couldn't paddle fast enough to dodge.

He futilely brought up his dagger and sword to make up some sort of guard but was still caught by the attack as it exploded on impact, sending him flying. Fortunately, he was in blissful sleep as he crashed into the ground.

Naruto watched the result and couldn't help but whistle in appreciation, "That's new. When did you learn to do something like that? I didn't know you could do that."

Silk had a massive grin on her face as she realised that she had just won her first, real fight, "It's been something I've been working on by myself." It had come to her when she had been fighting Gama. Some of the toad's swings were so powerful that she could feel a breeze of wind every time he swung.

She had just worked her socks off to replicate such a thing, but with the power needed to actually cause harm. In truth, this was the first time that she had used the attack. For all she knew, it could have ended up with her embarrassing herself rather badly to the last person she would want to make that particular of embarrassment witness to.

Naruto cocked his head to the side, "You train by yourself?"

Silk gave him a look, "It's not as if I just train when you or Konohamaru are there. I do my own stuff too, you know."

"No I did not know. Go you."

The blonde swordswoman felt vindicated but her smile dropped slightly when she noticed the unconscious navigator of the crew, "Is she going to be alright?"

"Nojiko?" Naruto said, patting her on the back. Not the backside. Either wise, Silk would call him out on that. He didn't need a sexual harassment case on his plate, especially when he was such a busy man with too many things to do and all that, "Yeah, she'll be fine. She's just taking a nap. Give her a couple of hours. Oh yeah, who was that guy with you and the others? And why was Miss Valentine in shackles?"

Silk cast away the sword she had picked up from one of the pirates that had attacked Naruto and Nojiko, "Oh that? A funny story really."

Naruto made a clone and passed the passed out Nojiko to it, "Huh, might as well tell my clone then as you guys make your way back to the ship."

Silk raised an eyebrow, "What about you?"

"Me? I'm going to stick around and clear up somethings."

Silk looked around and noticed the amount of damage that had been caused. Some buildings had broken windows, walls, doors and the likes. Even more had bullet holes in them. And then there was the street. It was littered with pirates...and a groove from her attack.

She would have been almost embarrassed if she wasn't feeling so damn proud of herself at seeing the mark she had made. She was making waves, "You're going to clean up? Huh, I'm starting to see you in a whole different light."

Naruto and the clone both gave her an incredulous look, "Clean up? Don't be stupid. There's people for that." The clone said.

Naruto nodded his head along with his clone, "Me cleaning up after myself would be depriving kami know's how many people of jobs. I'm not that bad of a person to be doing that." He thumbed in the direction of the only conscious group of pirates which included some woman and some guy with a weird hair style, being guarded by what seemed to be a lion and some unconscious ones, "Nah, I'm just going to have a little chatty with those when they wake up. I at least like to have the pleasure of knowing why people are attacking me before I kick their asses. They never really said, but I could make a guess."

Silk merely gave a simple nod as she began to make her way back to the port, "Yeah, play, whatever. Later."

Naruto watched her and his clone walk away, "She could at the very least waved good-bye or something. Kids these days, no respect for their elders." He turned his attention to Alvida and Mohji. The white haired man with the weird hair style tried to back up in fear, but all he did was back-up into the bars of the wooden cage they had found themselves in. Alvida didn't even bother as she stared him down. He smiled pleasantly at them, "Alright guys, why don't me and you have a nice little chat? I'm sure we're all busy people and have things we would like to be doing as of now..."

XxX

(Later – Open Seas)

Naruto stared down at the tanned man that was sitting across him in the lounge/crew area of the ship. The others were also in the room, including Igaram who was there as well. Perhaps he was also interested in why instead of five people, why six people had returned to the ship.

"So your names Gin?" Naruto eventually asked.

The recently escaped pirate nodded his head, "And you are Uzumaki Naruto. I've heard and read about you." What he heard and read made him sound as if he was some kind of monster. Right now, sitting in front of the man, he looked about as harmless as they come.

"Most of it good, I hope." The ninja returned with an easy smile. His smile didn't seem to have an effect on Gin. He decided that it was time to get to the crux of the matter, this whole little stare down of theirs didn't seem to be going anywhere, "So you want passage on my ship?"

Gin slowly nodded his head. He should at least have figured out that leaving on this ship from Rodeo Island wasn't going to be cheap, but he didn't have a single dime or penny to his name or anything valuable, "It would be very much appreciated. Leaving Rodeo Island by my own would have been far more difficult if it wasn't for your crew mates offer."

When Naruto had returned to the ship, some time after having his little chat with Alvida and the others that had thought it would be a good idea to attack them, Naruto had gotten the gist of what had happened between Konohamaru and the others. He had immediately decided that their stay in the town was over and that they should at best leave.

Luckily for them, Igaram's Eternal Pose had come in handy. The Log Pose was still unlocked to any island, so they figured they might as well heard towards Alabasta, let the Log Pose lock the next island from there. It was all rather simple, really.

If they didn't have Igaram and his Eternal Pose, they would have been, for better lack of a term, screwed right up the royal kisser.

"Yeah."

Gin blinked in confusion, "Yeah...what?"

"Yeah, you can stay for however long you want. Konohamaru said something about until we hit the next town right?" Naruto asked rather lazily.

From somewhere in the room, Konohamaru wasn't paying all that much attention to the conversation as he knew Naruto enough to know that he wouldn't have turned the man down. That and the fact that they were already at sea meant that Naruto just wasn't going to kick him off his boat, unless Gin did something to cause Naruto to kick him off said boat, "That's about it, boss."

"We're hitting a place called Alabasta next though."

The man known as a demon raised an eyebrow, "You sound so sure about that. A Log Pose could take you anywhere." The Krieg Pirates hadn't even crossed the Grand Line before they had run into 'Hawk-Eye' Mihawk, but they had heard enough to know about how certain things worked.

Naruto grinned at the statement. Nojiko was the one who spoke up next, "We have this thing called an Eternal Pose. It will lead us to Alabasta."

Gin took in the information before nodding his head in acceptance, "Very well. I shall stay with you until Alabasta, from then on, we shall go our separate ways."

"Oh you might stick around." Naruto said with a shrug of the hand, "You never know."

Gin was taken aback, "You would allow me to become a part of your crew? You don't even know me."

Naruto thumbed in the direction of Silk, "I had only met her for a couple of hours at best and she's now travelling with me. Same story for the others apart from Konohomaru and Igaram." He glanced at Igaram, "Hell, Igaram tried to kill me and look at us now, all good old buddies."

Igaram cleared his throat, "I wouldn't call it that. You are merely serving out terms we agreed to. Terms of contract, if you would."

The blonde ninja rolled his eyes before speaking again, "It doesn't matter if I don't know you. You might like being with us and decide to stick around. You look like you can handle yourself, and I can tell you're an alright guy."

"You don't know anything about me. About my past. About the things I've done." Gin said quietly, his face looking down.

"Everyone has a past, Gin. If you stick around with us, you might one day want to tell us about it, if not?" Naruto merely shrugged his shoulders, "Well, it would be no skin of my teeth at the end of the day." He rose up from his seat, clapped his hands together as he looked around, "Anyway, enough of the whole serious talk, right now, let's party! I mean, we have to celebrate the fact that Silk and Nojiko won their very first fights!"

Silk looked abashed at the praise. Nojiko, not so much, "Yeah well, count me out. I like not being reminded of the battering I took." She could still feel the pains and aches of the beating she had got. Oh, she never wanted to feel like this again, even if Naruto's healing had stopped the worst of it.

"A win is still a win, Noji-chan." Naruto said, "And your guy was a captain from East Blue. With a Devil Fruit as well. And he had the second largest bounty in East Blue as well. That's something to be proud off."

Nojiko was quite for a moment as she took in that information. Considering everything that she had heard, she supposed coming off with a few bruises and aches was pretty good. She shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, sure, whatever. Let's get drunk. Since we don't have any painkillers, alcohol will have to do."

Naruto grinned widely, "Now that's the spirit!"

* * *

**AN: Nearly a year I think since I updated this story or any of my stories. Truth be told, I've had a shitty year, and I'm probably going to discontinue some or many of my stories except this one. I might re-write them in the future, but who knows?**

**Anyway, went through the reviews and some people voiced concerns about me nerfing Naruto and Sasuke (When he shows up) Truth be told, I probably am, I'll admit that. Some people would say that there's no way Naruto or Sasuke could lose to anyone in the OP universe, others would disagree and say something else, but I think they would agree that there's some degree of nerfing involved.**

**Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, when I started off this fic and my other fics (You can easily spot the signs) I was one of those Naruto fanboys that would love to see him go all super-OP, trashing everyone left and right. But that isn't a story.**

**That's a fanboys dream.**

**I've read stories were Naruto is a freaking super-god who can beat the shit out of other gods without a single bat of an eye lash. and then, let's not forget the hundreds of thousands of women in his harem. Fuck me. I sometimes remember where I actually went out to read these kind of stories.**

**But I was young and foolish back then, and I think I'm going on a tangent.**

**What I'm trying to say is, I'm writing this story on the basis that the Narutoverse and the OPverse exist in the same universe. I think I've stated that before. Therefore, I have to find a balance were I don't nerf one side over the other. My earlier statement on the first chapter, which I removed, about the EN not standing a chance against the WG was not the brightest idea that ever came to my mind in truth. Never pit one group of fans over another. That's simply asking for trouble.**

**Naruto will come across opponents he will beat with both of his hands tied behind his back, but he will also come across opponents that will make him, well earn it or very well beat him, especially as he travels further on the Grand Line. he still at the starting line, remember?**

**I can't remember if this is canon or fanon, but someone once said that even the strongest kage can be defeated by a genin (or was it a student) with nothing more than a kunai.**

**So yeah, there's that.**

**Also, if you find the fights a bit rushed, I apologise. I don't think I'll have much free time in the coming days, so I figured, give you guys something now, then come back later and update it to a better degree rather than wait for god know's how many days until the update.**

**Oh yeah, because of my new found maturity and all that, if some of the characterisations of characters are different from what you remembered them to be, I apologise, just changing things a little bit to suit my writing. Call it character development, with sudden, out of nowhere development. It'll stay on the level from now. Trust.**

**Laters.**


	10. Let It Rain

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece. They are each owned by their respective owners._

* * *

Let It Rain

Naruto had some serious thinking to do.

He needed to do some serious thinking, after all, what the hell was he doing? He was on a mission, well, _supposed _to be on a mission and yet he was taking it as an extended holiday of some sort. This wasn't what a professional ninja did, especially for the grave importance of the mission he had been sent on.

Him and Konohamaru had been travelling the world nearly for two months now, minus the time it took for them to get all the way from the Elemental Continent to the nearest town in East Blue. And what exactly did he have to show for it?

A bounty.

That's what.

What exactly did a bounty tell his superiors back home about the world? Nothing, not the slightest thing. All it told them was that Naruto still had issues at keeping himself out of trouble and that for all intense and purposes, he really should not be sent on any mission that was damn close near to political or diplomatic in nature.

Well, he supposed it was a bit too dramatic to say that he had nothing to show for the two months he had been around in this part of the world. He knew that the reigning world power was the World Government...but that was about it.

That, and the fact that there seems to be hundreds of thousands of pirates running amok the seas, doing god knows what?

Then there were the Marines and all he knew about them where that they were the military arm of the World Government...and he had gone on to become a fugitive of said military arm of said government.

Fuck...this was certainly not what he'd been expecting to happen when he took on this mission. Well, to be honest, it had been shoved onto him unwillingly, with Kakashi saying something about him sowing his wild oats and everything else.

Sometimes, Naruto hated that guy.

What exactly was he supposed to do anyway on this mission? The briefing itself didn't exactly give him much into the exact perimeters of the mission and what he was supposed to beside the basic premise of learn as much as he could about said world, countries, people, anything really and then report back everything he had learned to the Hokage.

It was still too early to tell since the mission was more than indefinite, but Naruto knew he had to buck his ideas up. No more messing around...well mess around sometimes and no more getting on the bad side of the reigning world power. That wouldn't do at all.

Happy with the way his thoughts had gone, Naruto gave himself a nod of the head and jumped up to his feat, "Alright, time to take this seriously. I can do that." He told himself. This was a mission of grave importance, how important, he had no idea, probably best to have Kakashi specify the things he actually needed to know.

Some of the blame for the entire clusterfuck this whole thing was had to fall to Kakashi as well. He had done a horrible job as his mission controller.

Getting to his feet, he jumped off the floating body of the fish he had been sitting on and onto the water, standing atop it. He looked back at the...cat-fish thing. They weren't really smarting for food or anything like that, but he was rather curious as to how this thing tasted like.

A couple of clones later, Naruto was dragging the fish back with him to the ship. Hopefully, they hadn't gone off too far.

He didn't exactly have any idea how long he had been gone, thinking and everything, 'Nojiko's probably going to chew my ass out for this.'

XxX

"So how long exactly till we get to this Alabasta place?" Konohamaru asked as he held the steering wheel steady.

Beside him stood Nojiko with a map in hand, several others nearby and the Eternal Pose in the other free hand. They had been on the Grand Line long enough to know that they had to pay attention to this sort of stuff otherwise they could get taken way off course, "Not long. We should be seeing land soon."

"Awesome." Konohamaru returned, stretching out his back. A pleasurable click rang through him as he finished. He released a sigh of content. That felt good, "I'm kinda itching to get back on some land."

Nojiko had an amused look about her as she slyly glanced at him, "And that has nothing to do with Igaram?"

"Most of it has to do with Igaram." Konohamaru wasn't going to lie about that. Ever since they had been getting closer and closer to Alabasta, the man had become nigh insufferable, asking all kinds of questions about Vivi and her state of being. The man cared, that was blatant enough to see, but at some point, it just got freaky. He released a sigh, "The guy needs to take whatever chill pill he had before, because if he doesn't, I'm stuffing something down his throat."

The thought was certainly enticing, but Nojiko was the more responsible of the two. And she certainly knew that stuffing things down people's throats to shut them up, however enticing the thought seemed, was certainly not a thing sort-off law abiding citizens like them did, "No. No stuffing things down the throat of annoying man, Kono. Say it with me." She said, sounding like she was talking to a child.

"I'm not promising anything, but I'll try." At the very least, he could give her that.

On the deck, Silk was being given the work out of her life, but this time, it wasn't against Gama or Naruto or Konohamaru or anyone else on the ship that could potentially kick her ass from here to the moon. No it was being given by the ship's newest member or something along them lines, Gin.

The man had two tonfas in his hands and used them like they were a part of him as he sparred against Silk. Apparently, sparring against Silk was the man's way of trying to pay back Naruto and company for allowing him passage on their ship.

Naruto didn't mind, more specifically he didn't mind who kicked either Nojiko or Silk's ass as long as they didn't kill them, 'all for the Greater Good.' He had reasoned.

Konohamaru eyed the two for a moment and quickly changed the crew rankings. At the top was obviously going to be Naruto. No-one was stronger than him. The man could take on a god if need be. Second on that list was once again, obviously himself. He was the First Mate, of course he had to be powerful in case anything happened to the captain, as if that would ever happen.

He supposed the third strongest member of the crew would then go to Silk. The blonde teenager could handle herself pretty well, but she still needed some fine tuning as far as Konohamaru was concerned. And last but not least was the ship's resident navigator. Nojiko could shoot. She wasn't an excellent shot, well not yet anyway, but she was good enough in a fight, as long as there was a suitable distance between her and her opponent.

That was something Naruto planned on rectifying sooner rather than later.

Miss Valentine didn't count as a member of the crew, despite the fact that she had freedom to go anywhere and do anything on the ship. She was still after all, technically a prisoner. Whatever that meant for her.

If Gin was to join them, then no doubt about it, Konohamaru was sure Silk would be shoved down a peg and the man would go on to become the third strongest guy on the ship. Once again, it had to be pointed out, the man wasn't even trying against Silk and he was pushing her back all over the deck and Silk struggled to keep his attacks at bay.

Actually, speaking of Naruto, "Oh, the boss is back...with a giant cat looking fish...?" He trailed off as he looked at the fish that was being dragged along by the boss' clones. The original boss jumped onto the ship and threw several bundles of rope at the clones that began to tie up the fish to the ship, "You never said anything about fishing." Konohamaru said as Naruto made his way towards them.

Naruto glanced back at the cat fish and shrugged, "I didn't plan to, but it sorta happened just like that. Look on the bright side, we've got lunch."

Nojiko looked past him and towards the cat looking fish. The thing looked to be about half as big as their ship, "How are we going to store that thing though? I don't think the fridge is big enough for it all."

Naruto blinked. He hadn't thought about that. He rubbed at his chin to think of a solution, but his train of thought was stopped by someone coming to the deck of the ship, "Is that a Sea Cat!?" Igaram cried out as he saw the fish.

"Sea Cat? That's the name of that thing?" Naruto asked as he loomed at the fish, "If it is, I guess, yes, it is a Sea Cat. What about it?"

Igaram's face was the definition of shock, his jaw hanging loose from the rest of his mouth and his eyes bulged wide open, "You didn't kill it did you!?"

"Ah, no. Just gave it one or two punches. Nothing to kill it...I don't think." He did a quick sense of the fish and noticed that it was still very much alive. He smiled to himself in relief, "Yeah, it's definitely alive." He sometimes forgot that he could hit very hard when surprised. Igaram scurried towards the clones that were tying it up, pushing them away before undoing the ropes, "Hey! What the hell do you think you are doing to our lunch!?" The blonde shouted at the oddly haired man as he ran towards him.

Gin and Silk stopped the sparring amongst them to look at the commotion that was happening. Igaram and Naruto started wrestling over the last of the ropes, "Urgh, you can't eat it!" Igaram said as he struggled against the younger and far stronger man, but damned was he going to curse at the traditions of Alabasta.

Naruto pushed away Igaram's head with a hand. This could have been finished off rather quickly, but he was bored and he needed something to do. Struggling against a middle aged man was one way to waste time, "And why the hell not!? It's just a stupid fish!"

"A stupid fish that is sacred to the people of Alabasta!"

"Oh, is that so?" Naruto easily pushed away Igaram and got to his feet. He dusted himself off, "Why didn't you just say so?" Naruto asked as he untied the last of the ropes, allowing the fish to be slowly carried away from the ship by the current.

Igaram scrambled to his feet. Well, that was pathetic, knowing that he could be so easily shrugged off. But if Uzumaki was weak, then there had been no reason for him to hire him in the first place, "You just attacked me out of nowhere, that's why!"

A tick mark came onto Naruto's head, "You suddenly started untying my catch! Of course I'd defend it!"

The others continued to watch the ensuing argument between Naruto and Igaram with various expressions on their faces. Amusement on some, confusion on others. Gin was confused to say the least. He had trouble to believe that such a man as Uzumaki Naruto was as dangerous as the papers said.

The young man was utterly harmless.

Most of the time, he was either screwing with his crew mates one way or another or being lazy. And he didn't seem to know a single thing about sailing or being a pirate captain. The former Krieg Pirate first mate blinked for a moment as he realised something, Uzumaki Naruto was not a pirate. He had said that repeatedly.

The feel of the ship and among the crew was certainly different from the one he had come to know serving with Don Krieg and the Krieg Pirates. The constant state of fear at the notion that a single misstep could very well end in a death was no where to be seen or felt.

It was...good.

Nojiko stepped up as she folded away a map, "Nice of you to stop fighting our employer, Naruto-kun. We sort of need his money." That was a lie, but more money never hurt anyone, "And anyway, land ahoy." She finished off rather flippantly pointing in the distance.

The others turned their attention to the direction that Nojiko was pointing in and looked. There was land coming up on the distance. Naruto took a few jumps to the crow's nest on the main mast for a better look, "So that's Alabasta? I wonder what's it like." It was difficult to make out anything at the distance they currently were at. He looked around the crow's nest, "Don't we have some kind of binoculars or something?" Man, he wished he had the Byakugan. That zooming in thing it did would so come in handy right about now.

"We should be making port at some town called Nanohana." Nojiko told them. She looked at Igaram, "Since you're a native, what's it's like?"

Igaram's chest seemed to swell up as he started talking about one of the town's of his beloved country, "It's a port town, one of our busiest. It's known for it's perfumes and great sh-." He stopped for a moment and blinked as something hit him, "Vivi-hime might just be there!"

The swordswoman of the group raised an eyebrow. She was glad that there was a lull in her sparring. She had been taking a beating. And she could feel the bruises and aches that were going to plague her for the next coming days. It was scary that she was now used to them and couldn't have cared less. Gin was not a nice man, "That depends on whether the Luffy and everyone is there, or we reached Alabasta first." She blinked, "Actually, what makes you so sure that there'll be in this town? There's bound to be a bunch of other port towns." It was sort of silly having only one port town.

Igaram gave Silk a look, "Vivi-hime might be there because Nanohana is the principle port town of Alabasta. Especially if you are coming from the direction that we had set off from."

Naruto shouted down from the crow's nest, "Hey guys! I think Luffy and company were at that place!"

The others looked up. Igaram might as well have tried to scramble up the mast for a better look himself just to see, but he noticed that he might make a fool out of himself. Then he caught on as to what Naruto had said, "'Were'!? What do you mean were!? Where could the princess have gone too!?"

Nojiko gave the older man a look, "Woah, relax. Take a breather."

Naruto decided to answer at least one of the questions of the princess' minder, "Seems like there was some sort of battle in that town. There's like a lot of smoke rising up from it. That, and there's a Marine ship docked right at port." If Luffy was any kind of smart, which in truth, he really wasn't all that, then he would know to beat it as soon as the Marines had shown up, of course after wrecking a few things and fighting them off. The blonde ninja looked down where the rest were, "Sooo...what do we do? Me and Konohamaru are wanted man. So is Gin." And Miss Valentine...probably, who knew? He needed to ask whenever he got a chance.

Igaram blinked as he had forgotten about that. Uzumaki and the company he seemed to keep did not at all seem like people who would be fugitives of the World Government. If they were to make port with Marines in the town and they were identified (More than likely, with Uzumaki's distinctive look), he would have a hard trouble explaining the situation to them, especially without any proof.

And that if the Marines were more than willing to listen to him any way. The only recognised privateers were the World Government's Shichibukai. Member countries, such as Alabasta could never take privateers themselves, other wise, there would be some rather uncomfortable questions being asked and awkward answers needed to be given.

And that's if the World Government was feeling reasonable, even if they took Alabasta's status as a founding member into account.

"We can't make port!" The Chief Guard of the Royal Palace declared, rather distressed.

"I think that's rather obvious." The others more or less deadpanned. Konohamaru looked around, "So what do we do?" He asked, stopping to look in the direction of Alabasta which was now closer than ever, "Because if we can see them, I'm sure any Marine that's on look out will soon see us or already has seen us."

"Konohamaru's got a good point." Silk admitted. The swordswoman soon joined the others in watching Igaram start pacing about so quickly that she was sure that the man would make a groove in the deck, "Ah, you know what? I'm sure we can fight them off if they come knocking." She offered as a suggestion.

Nojiko gave her a dry look, "What's with you and fighting? I'm starting to think that your first response to everything is fight it."

"That's a lie!" Silk protested vehemently. That was most certainly not her first thought! She was a peaceful girl. Violence was not an answer she would immediately jump to, only if it's a mean to and end, "I just want to stop poor Igaram from giving himself foot ulcers from all the pacing he's doing."

The blue haired navigator had a look that pretty much conveyed her suspicions on such a thing, "Sure~, whatever you say, Silk."

"Yuba!" Igaram suddenly declared all of a sudden with a quick stop.

"Yuba?" The others repeated.

Igaram gave a firm nod, "Yuba!" He said excitedly before rushing towards the wheel of the ship, "Nojiko-san, by any chance do you have the map for Alabasta?"

Nojiko shared a look with the others and shrugged as she made her way towards the man, "Yeah, right here." She answered as she took out the map that she had folded away before, "What of it?"

"Please direct me towards the Sandora! The princess is going to Yuba!"

Nojiko looked up towards the crow's nest where Naruto was perched. She looked at him for some sort of instructions. He _was_ the captain after all. Well, he was supposed to be the captain. She got her instructions in the form of a shrug, "Do what the man says. He knows Vivi-hime better than us. And Alabsta as well." The blonde ninja said. He glanced in the direction of Nanohana, "Better do it quick though. We're getting pretty close to the town."

The navigator gave a simple nod of the head before looking over the map of Alabasta. She soon found the name 'Sandora' and realised that it referred to a desert and a river that fed into the Grand Line. Igaram quickly identified that he meant the river and Nojiko directed him east towards the river, away from Nanohana.

They soon left Nanohana in the distance as they continued to sail eastwards towards the river. As they continued sailing, they were given the view of the Alabastan coast line. For a desert country, the sand made for a rather remarkable view.

Naruto guessed that even a desert country had it's own sort of beauty to it. Much like Suna did...despite being located in the middle of a desert.

As they continued to make their way towards the Sandora, they came across a curious scene of five destroyed and flaming ships slowly sinking into the ocean. The heat from the flames made the already becoming unbearable desert temperate of Alabasta even more uncomfortable.

Gin looked at the ships with wonder in his eyes, "Did Luffy and and his crew do this?" He asked. The last time he had met Luffy, the boy had won a hard fought battle against Don Krieg. He had struggled for most of the fight, but he had won in the end.

It was difficult seeing that boy, young and fresh faced capable of such destruction. The sought of destruction he had seen committed by Krieg himself without some sort of dirty trick. But then again, Krieg didn't have the sort of people like Zoro and Sanji in his crew, even then, Gin still had trouble believing that Luffy could do this sort of thing.

Perhaps the Grand Line had changed him, maybe for the worse or the better, and perhaps it had even made him stronger, just to survive on it.

Konohamaru could only shrug, "Maybe. I don't know." He didn't particularly know how Luffy fought, or how the rest of his crew did either, but in truth, he figured Luffy's way of sinking ships would involving smashing them into kindling instead of setting them alight, "We'll just ask him when we catch up to him." He finished off with a shrug of the shoulders.

The odd assemble of ninjas, adventurers, pirate and royal guard continued to make their way down the coast until they reached the Sandora. The river was over a mile wide and cut Alabasta straight into two according to Igaram.

Most towns and cities were located near it's banks as it provided water for the citizens of Alabasta, but the river also made it difficult for travel as well. It was both a boon and a curse.

They travelled down river until Naruto had spotted something in the distance that looked like a ship. A quick clone scouting party had immediately identified the ship as the Going Merry of the Straw Hats. They had made port at what seemed to be a village that had been buried in sand.

When they had approached the ship and called out to it's owners, there was no reply. The Straw Hats had left it and most likely gone inland, "So what exactly is in Yuba?" Naruto asked Igaram as the man prepared himself for the coming desert journey, "And why are you so sure the princess would be heading there?"

"Yuba is where the rebels are based." Igaram began telling them as he tugged at his cloak, "The princess loves this country and it's people more than anything. I'm sure she would go to the rebels there and plead with them to stop their rebellion."

Igaram had given them a quick run down of the situation in Alabasta. This Crocodile guy, one of this so-called Shichibukai had instigated a civil war between the royal family and people who had suffered from the sudden change in rain patterns caused by Crocodile through the use of Dance Powder.

The more he heard about Crocodile and what he had done, causing fellow country men to shed each other's blood, Naruto disliked him more and more. It seemed his end game was the coup d'etat of the country and the man was beyond reproach. He was after-all the 'Hero' of Alabasta, protecting the people from pirates and the likes, whilst simultaneously destabilising it.

He sort of reminded Naruto of Nagato. With the whole being revered by the people thing, at least, except Nagato, in his own twisted way, cared for the people of Ame.

"That's awfully naïve." Gin said, speaking up. Igaram near broke his neck as he turned his head quickly in his direction at the dark haired pirate, "Who's to say the rebels won't capture her and use her as some sort of bargaining chip against her father? And what's to stop the rebels from killing her right on the spot?" He asked before adding something else at the end, "Excluding Luffy and his crew."

"Because Kohza would never harm Vivi-hime!" Igaram retorted, "They grew up together! They are like siblings! His only problems are with King Cobra!"

Gin shrugged, "If you say so." Like the others, Gin had prepared himself for the desert weather.

"Why don't we head to the capital?" Konohamaru offered as a suggestion, "I mean, the loyalists and the rebels are probably going to clash some time soon if this Crocodile guy isn't stopped. What better place than the capital? Most of these things always end up with a deciding battle happening right in the capital. Ow!"

Naruto flicked Konohamaru on the forehead, "Because that only happens in books and films, Konohamaru. Jeez." He stopped for a moment and thought back to his time back as genin, saving princesses from evil uncles and the likes wanting to take over their kingdoms, "...Actually, that's not half bad an idea."

The others gaped at him, "It's not?"

"He's got some sound logic, Konohamaru does."

The younger ninja glared in the direction of the older ninja, "And you say that after flicking me?"

Naruto ignored that as he continued to speak, "Not all of us will go though. Igaram, Konohamaru and Silk-."

Miss Valentine suddenly appeared out of nowhere, "I'm not going anywhere. Just saying. I'm staying right here."

Nojiko gave the sunny blonde woman a bemused look, "Like we're going to leave you right here with all of our and the Straw Hats treasure. It doesn't work that way sweetie. You are still our prisoner despite what it looks like."

Miss Valentine eyes widened for a moment before flicking between Naruto and Konohomaru. She quickly latched herself to Naruto's side, "If that's the case, I'm sticking with the guy that can easily defeat me and Mr. 5 like it was nothing."

Igaram took this moment to protest at the proposed course of action, "I'm going to Yuba. The princess is there! The king would never forgive me if something happened to her."

There was something to be said about the man's loyalty. Nojiko couldn't help but smile. The man was annoying more than hell at times, but there was some good about him, "Nothing will happen to her. She has Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp with her. Those guys are strong." The less said about Usopp the better. She had trouble believing some of the things he had said that night back in Whiskey Peak.

Hopefully, Igaram remembered none of that, and if he did, have none of her own insecurities about the situation.

Igaram seemed to want to say something, but Naruto beat him to it, "Someone has to tell the king that his daughter is alive and in strong capable hands. Also, I'm sure the king would love to hear what you have to report about what you learned about Crocodile and Baroque Works."

Igaram seemed to be at war with himself. The war raging between his loyalty to the princess and his duty to the king and Alabasta. Eventually, he allowed a defeated sigh to escape his lips, "Very well, I shall head to the capital with your companions, Uzumaki. The princess better be safe and well, Uzumaki, or help me God..." He left the threat hang in the air.

Naruto could only nod as he knew what the man was insinuating, "Nothing will happen to her, if I have anything to say about it. I promise, and I always keep my promises."

The captain of the royal guard cast a long look in his direction before nodding his head, "I'll hold you to that Uzumaki." He looked in the direction of Konohamaru and Silk, "So, shall we go?" The two teens gave a nod of their heads before setting off for the capital.

Miss Valentine watched the trio wander off into the distance before casting a look in Naruto's direction, "You always keep your promises, huh?"

"I have a pretty good track record, if I have to say so for myself." Naruto answered with a scratch of his chin.

"Well, good luck with keeping that promise if Crocodile get's his hands on the princess."

Naruto looked at his fellow blonde and was surprised by the rather sullen mood she was in. It was rare for her not to be smiling. This whole facing off against Baroque Works must have rattled her straight to the bones.

He couldn't really say he didn't know what she was feeling. He sort of knew the feeling. It was the feeling he had felt when he knew he had to face off against Akatsuki. Problem is, unlike Miss Valentine, he just couldn't just run. Akastuki would have continued to come after him until Kurama was safely within their grasp.

Naruto surprised her by putting an arm around her shoulder, "You'll be fine. This Crocodile guy will regret ever having messed with me."

"But he didn't actually mess with you." Nojiko deadpanned, "It's more you messing with him."

Naruto sucked in some air and breathed out, "Thanks for ruining the moment, Noji-chan, before it even began. Jealous maybe?"

The blue haired navigator gave a rather unwomanly snort as she turned her nose, "In your dreams."

Naruto clapped his hands to get the attention of the group, "Alright, let's go!" He said as he jumped off the ship and began going in one direction.

Nojiko noticed something in the direction that Naruto was walking, "Naruto-kun, Yuba is in the other direction!"

"I know!"

"Then why are you going that way!?"

"Cause we are not going to Yuba!"

"Where are we going to then!?"

"Some other place than Yuba! Now come on!"

Gin looked at the walking Naruto before shrugging his shoulders and soon following after him. It wasn't as if he could go off on his own at the moment. They were in the middle of nowhere with a town nary in sight. Might as well stick around with these lot before heading off to wherever the four winds took him.

Miss Valentine and Nojiko watched with blank stares as the two man walked off in the direction that did not head towards Yuba, "And he keeps all of his promises?" Miss Valentine eventually said, speaking up.

"Apparently." Nojiko answered. She sighed before soon following after them, "Well, from his known track record, he's got 100% on that boast." He had kept his promise to her, back on Commi Island. She looked back at Miss Valentine, "Come on," Her hand wavered towards the holsters at her hips, "Don't make me point my gun at you."

Miss Valentine sweat dropped, "Ever heard of please?" She asked snidely as she soon followed suit, "I'm starting to think that there's something wrong with all of you." Who willingly picked a fight with a Shichibukai? Especially in a situation that they could have easily avoided?

Only idiots would do that.

And it seems as if she was stuck with them.

XxX

(Three Days Later)

"Rainbase!" Miss Valentine mouthed aloud as they walked in a street. She began frantically looking around for something, whatever that something was, "What are we doing in Rainbase? Don't tell me the 'Some other place than Yuba' is Rainbase!" She nearly yelled at Naruto, but whatever had gotten her frantic had made her question-slash-accusation a really, angry hiss.

Naruto looked around the bustling lively streets full of people. Wasn't there supposed to be some kind of drought hitting the country rather hard? This place didn't seem to show the signs of anything happening at all, "Is this the name of the place? Never knew."

The normally sunny blonde woman was clutching Naruto's arm so hard that she might nearly have stopped blood flow into that particular hand if she held onto it any longer, "How do you even know this place? I didn't see you look at any map."

"I didn't look at a map." The male blonde ninja admitted freely. He tugged at his arm trying to get Miss Valentine to release it, "Can I have my arm back? I rather like it."

Nojiko walked on the other side of Naruto and like the others had taken in the sights of the rather colourful town. She peered past Naruto to look at Miss Valentine, "What's wrong with you? You suddenly went crazy the moment we stepped into this place."

"Because this place is the main base of _Baroque Works_!" She hissed angrily at Nojiko. Tears were now freely streaming down her eyes, "Oh mercy, some agent has already probably clocked me. I'm so dead. If I knew this was going to happen, I should have gone with the others." Because no way in hell were they going to let her stay on their ship.

Gin looked around the city, "Well, I suppose that explains a few things." The pirate said, shaking his head, "If this is the main base of Baroque Works, I doubt it wouldn't do for it to suffer like the other cities and towns of this country."

"Seems like it." Naruto admitted with a nod of the head. He scratched at his chin with his free arm, "You think Crocodile knows we are in the country?" He asked no-one in particular.

"Maybe. Who knows?" The navigator of the four began to say, "That vulture and otter reported back to that Crocodile guy didn't they? He'll definitely know who _some_," She gave a look in Naruto's direction as she said that. She remembered that the blonde ninja had been MIA when the vulture and the otter had made their appearance, "of us, but not all of us. Definitely you and Gin are unknowns."

"Awesome." Came Naruto's simple reply. He had his eye on a particularly gnarly looking pyramid, "Now if I was an evil mastermind planning on taking over a country, where would I make my home base? Definitely not the giant pyramid with the crocodile on top. Definitely not that. Too inconspicuous."

Miss Valentine's jaw near dropped of her face as she realised just what was about to happen, "What, Crocodile's _here_!?" She really should have gone with those two kids.

"Yeah," Naruto replied with a nod of the head, "Entire reason as to why we didn't go to Yuba."

The dark haired pirate of the group eyed Naruto for a moment, "How did you know that he was going to be here?"

Naruto lead the group of four towards the giant pyramid, "Sensed him." Truth be told, whilst they had been making their way towards the Sandora, Kurama had collected some Natural Energy for him to use for a few moments. Not much, just enough for him to get a quick lay of the land.

It just so happened that in Rainbase was located the strongest energy signature that he had sensed in the entire country. So strong that he would admit that if Luffy and the others fought this Crocodile guy, he was doubtful they could win, '_Probably best if I go and cut this thing off myself.'_ It would be a shame for Luffy to bite off more than he could chew.

Somewhere in the distance, a commotion could be heard. People in the streets stopped to point to the skies as something flew up, soon followed by what seemed to be like living smoke that tied itself around the previous object.

The object suddenly expanded like a balloon, breaking the grip the smoke had on it before falling away from each other, crashing into the ground behind some buildings, some blocks away from Naruto and the others.

It didn't take much of a guess as to who that was, "I'm guessing Luffy and the others are in town." Nojiko said with a dry look on her face.

"With friends by the looks of it." Naruto said with a sigh. He remembered that living smoke thing. It was probably that Smoker guy. What was he doing here exactly?

Gin had been more than slightly surprised to learn that Naruto and Luffy knew of each other, and more than surprised that they were in the same country. He didn't know if they were going to meet again, but it seemed as if fate was on his side.

"You wouldn't mind if I went to say hi to Luffy, would you?" Gin asked.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Why are you asking? You don't need my permission to do anything. You're not even on my crew. You're just a passenger. You can do whatever the hell you want."

Not exactly the sort of response Gin was expecting but he nodded and ran off towards the direction Luffy had fallen in. If the young man was in trouble, perhaps he could repay the pirate for opening his eyes to everything about himself and Don Krieg.

Nojiko watched Gin disappear into the crowds, "So what do we do now? Keep heading towards that pyramid?" She was answered with a nod of the head as Naruto continued walking down the street towards the pyramid, "I guess that's a yes." She sighed as she soon followed after him.

XxX

"You gave us a lot of trouble, princess." A Millions agent said, smirking down at a bruised and cut Vivi. Around the group were several bodies that of defeated Millionaires that Vivi had been able to defeat by herself before being overwhelmed by the numbers up against her, "No wonder you were a Frontier Agent, but too bad! Hahaha!"

Vivi glared up at the agent that was smirking down at her. This wasn't good. To think she had been so easily caught and the end was so near as well. She couldn't fail just like this.

"Argh!"

The Millions went to grab her but stopped and jerked up as he looked at the source of the cry, "What's happening!?" He asked and his eyes widened when he saw bodies of his fellow agents being sent flying by whatever was attacking them. Something came at him and he tried to raise his gun to fire but found something hitting him hard in the face, sending him flying.

Vivi blinked up as someone's back appeared in front of her, "You're Princess Vivi of Alabasta, aren't you?" The owner of the back asked.

Vivi gave a slod nod as she slowly got to her feet, "Who are you?" She asked as she took in the man's appearance. He was tanned with short dark hair. In his hands, he held two tonfas that he was using as weapons.

"Gin." The former Krieg Pirates first mate replied coolly as he looked around the number of enemies that had surrounded them. More of the Millions agents had arrived in the few moments that he had been talking to the princess, "I'm a...friend of a friend if you will."

He had been looking for Luffy, or Zoro, or even Sanji but he had somehow found the princess at the very centre of the entire reason as to why they were in Alabasta in the first place. She needed help and he supposed it wouldn't hurt to have the gratitude of the princess of a country.

"Can you fight?" He asked. Vivi went to say 'Yes' and raise her Peacock Slashers but she winced. She had taken quite a lot of damage fighting the initial agents off, "I'll take that as a 'no' then. Don't move." It would make this far easier than it would be if she was fighting with him, hurt as she was.

"You're surrounded!" One of the Millions shouted, a cutlass in his hand, "You think you can win!?"

He was answered by Gin rushing him and smashing one of his tonfas straight into his face. His nose was broken and teeth were sent flying. Gin had his eyes narrowed and a clear look of determination on his face, "I know I can."

The other agents found stood where they were gaping at the scene that had happened in front of them. Gin took this as a chance to run havoc among their lines as he smashed, shattered and broke bones with brutal and powerful hits from his tonfas.

The rest of the agents quickly got their wits about them as they quickly went to defend themselves against the unstoppable man that was flattening them with so much ease that it was ridiculously. They could hear the bones breaking from each of the hits Gin made.

Unknown to them, they were rather lucky. The tonfas Gin was using weren't the tailor made tonfas that he preferred. The ones with the weighed end.

If he had those custom tonfas, a lot more of the agents that he had taken down would not be breathing as they were.

Gin swung at an incoming group of agents with cutlasses in their hands. His swing was powerful enough to break their swords as they swung at him, and as they stood and stared dumbfounded at their broken blades, the Man-Demon took them out with another swing of his tonfas that caught all of them.

Vivi watched with something akin to nothing but horror at the sight in front of her. She didn't like Baroque Works, that she knew, but she could feel something like sympathy for the millionaires that found themselves to be at the end of a massacre by nothing more than a single man.

Many of them were crying out in pain. Others weren't even making a sound, having left this world for the next.

She wanted to cry out, to say something but she felt a presence behind her. She turned and noticed a millionaire coming at her, a frantic look in his eyes, 'Damn! I got careless!'

The sound of a gun being fired was heard before the Millions crumbled to the floor, bleeding out. The gun fire had come from above and Vivi looked up and her eyes brightened as she saw a sight that was she glad to see.

Diving down to the ground, with gatling guns attached to each wing was a giant falcon with purple markings on it's face. The falcon strangely wore a turban tied around it's head designed with brown stars and a cloak of white adorned with similar brown stars.

The falcon continued to shoot down at the mass of Millionaires that were closest to Vivi, avoiding the others that Gin was fighting, "Shoot it!" One of the Millionaires yelled out. Before they could bring up their guns, the falcon had swooped in and taken the princess into it's giant claws, "It's got the princess!"

Gin paused for a moment to look up as the giant falcon flew to the top of a building and landed gently, releasing the princess. He didn't attack the falcon simply because it seemed to be on his side, as it had shot at the Millionaires attacking Vivi.

The falcon at the top of the building morphed into a tall man with brown hair that was kept in check by the turban with a sword in hand. He looked down at the street below, "Nice to see you again, princess." He said in greeting.

Vivi smiled happily, "Pell!"

"Please wait here for a moment." Pell said to the princess.

Down on the streets below, the Millionaires suddenly became wary as they took steps backwards, fear etched onto their faces, "Pell!? Was that Pell 'The Falcon'!? The strongest warrior in all of Alabasta!?"

Pell morphed into a half-human, half-falcon hybrid, holding out his talons in front of him as he looked down at the agents below, "The Tori-Tori Model: Falcon. One of the only five flying types ever discovered."

He disappeared from the building top, "I can't see him!" The Millionaires shouted out.

"Shoot him! Shoot him!"

A quick breeze of wind went past them, before cuts suddenly appeared on their bodies as they dropped to the ground. Behind were they stood, Pell landed in his hybrid form, "Tobizume (Flying Claws)!"

Gin walked up to his supposed ally, "That was impressive."

Pell looked at Gin, still in his hybrid form, noting the damage the man had caused, "And that was brutal."

Vivi shouted down at the two, "You saved me! We have to hurry to the others!"

"Yes." A voice suddenly said behind Vivi, "Exactly what I was thinking."

Vivi turned in surprise, "Miss All Sunday!"

Standing behind Vivi, hands on her hips and a calm smile on her face, Miss All Sunday looked down at Pell and Gin, "The Falcon and the Man-Demon...the Millionaires never stood a chance. But I wonder, are you both stronger than me?"

Pell had a dangerous look on his face, "Vivi-sama, are these the people you were talking about? The ones threatening to destroy our country?"

Gin eyed the woman warily. He hadn't sensed her, and neither had this Pell character. And then there was the fact that she had been able to get to the rooftop without anyone noticing. She was dangerous, that was obvious enough.

"If you don't mind," Miss All-Sunday began to say, "I'd like to take the princess and introduce her to a couple of my friends."

"Cut the crap," Pell replied, glaring up at the woman, "That's not going to happen."

Vivi tried to attack Miss All-Sunday but found her attack easily blocked. The partner to Mr. 0 looked down at the princess with an easy smile on her face, "Well, that's very unlady like."

The princess glared up at her, "How dare you do that to Igaram...!"

The name was lost on her for a moment before it came to her, "Oh, you mean Mr. 8."

"What did you do to Igaram-san!?" Pell shouted from below.

"Nothing that I'm going to do to you." Miss All-Sunday replied as she pulled Vivi in front of her.

Pell and Gin watched as Miss All-Sunday pierced Vivi with nothing more than her arm. Pell launched himself at Miss All-Sunday, "Damn you!" Gin was right behind the flying falcon, but Pell had him on speed, "I'll turn you into Alabastan sand!"

All Miss All-Sunday could do was smile as she brought up her hands, "Seis Fleur (Six Flower)!" On each of the two on-rushing combatants, three hands suddenly sprouted around them, disabling them. On Pell, two hands locked his wings whilst another pushed back his sword back into it's sheath.

Gin felt the worst of it as he was the in the process of going to jump to the building they were on from an adjacent building. When the hands held in a lock, his run-up was abruptly stopped and he found himself crashing down to the ground below.

He looked up at the top of the building, the hands that had sprouted on him suddenly gone, "What the hell!?" A Devill Fruit user. That was brilliantly, and someone he doubted he would be able to win against if she could just sprout hands on him like it was nothing.

He looked around for something and his eyes lingered on to a rifle near one of the down Millionaires that had been taken out. She might have been able to him from coming at her directly, but what about indirectly? He doubted that she would be able to stop an attack that she couldn't see.

He went towards the pistol and picked it up before going off to find a suitable sniping spot from a nearby building. He wasn't really one for guns, but he was a passable marksman at the very least.

On the rooftop, Miss All-Sunday had Pell in a submission hold as she walked towards him, "Don't misunderstand, 'Power', 'Speed'...those things, they all mean nothing to me. Clutch!" The arms suddenlt bent Pell's body backwards, cracking his back. The warrior spat out blood as he fell to the floor, "Haha...so much for the strongest warrior in the kingdom..." She looked off into a direction, "And don't think I forgot about you. Seis Fleur (Six Flowers)!"

Alarm bells rang in Gin's head as he quickly took aim but was stopped when six arms sprouted from his body once more. One arm slapped the rifle out of his hands and the other five began to repeatedly slap into his face, each slap feeling more like a punch, 'How!?' He thought as he slowly blacked out.

The last thing he saw was an eye on the roof of the building he had occupied.

XxX

Miss Valentine stared at the entrance of Rain Dinners from the other side of the bridge that crossed the moat it was located around, "So...did that Naruto guy just charge in there with those idiots?"

Nojiko could only slowly nod her head as she looked at the very same entrance, "Unfortunately, yes."

The group had run into the Straw Hats just outside Rain Dinners. Some quick 'Hellos' and the likes were said before a Marine chomping down at a pretty mean cigar chased after them. Luffy and the others immediately charged into Rain Dinners, followed by Naruto.

For no other reason than because it seemed interesting.

Miss Valentine nearly smacked herself in the face. She would save that later for the blonde idiot, if he was still alive that was, "Is he an idiot?"

"I don't know." Nojiko replied unsurely, "Sometimes, maybe. I don't know. I try to ignore it."

The former Baroque Works agent looked at her, "That's not exactly healthy."

"I suppose it's a good thing that Naruto can heal people now isn't it?"

XxX

Naruto, Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Smoker found themselves trapped in a cell within a luxurious looking room. It had been probably the most obvious trap ever set in history and the gang had run right into it. He knew Luffy was an idiot, but damn, Naruto didn't think Luffy was that much of an idiot, even the others.

But who was he to talk? He was stuck in here as well.

Apparently, according to Smoker the Marine, the cell they were in was made of Kairoseki, Sea Stone. A special kind of stone that would stop people with devil fruit powers from using their said powers. And it also had the happy side effect of weakening them through contact.

Luffy and Smoker had been more than happy to show that particular trait.

Naruto took a moment to enter Sage Mode, his eyes resembling that of a toad for a moment before concentrating on the Kairoseki. He blinked for a moment as he was surprised by what he was sensing. It seemed like Natural Energy...or a close enough variant of it.

'That Smoker guy said something about it having the power of the sea.' The sea was sort of, kind of like nature, so it wasn't that difficult to make a conclusion that the power of the sea probably meant Natural Energy...or as close enough as the sea could get to such a thing.

Naruto placed a hand on one of the bars and tugged. Stuff was sturdy and strong as hell. He didn't even make an imprint, and he was still in Sage Mode as well.

Someone in the room laughed, "That stuff is as hard as diamond. You aren't just going to break it like that."

Naruto looked up at the man that was sitting on one of the chairs that surrounded a large dining table. He de-activated Sage Mode, "Crocodile, I take it?" The others snapped to attention as they looked at the man at the source of everything.

"It seems my reputation precedes me." He glanced at the captives in the cell, "it seems I managed to catch myself a nice bounty here. Two pirates and a Marine captain from HQ itself."

Naruto had one thing to say to that, "_Not_ a pirate." He protested, a finger raised in contestation. Seriously, he was a fugitive, not a pirate.

"When I'm done with these two Crocodile, you're next." Smoker more or less stated as if that was a foregone conclusion.

Crocodile rose from his seat and walked towards the cell. He had a condescending smirk on his face as he looked down upon them, literally and figuratively. The man was tall, "Quite the stray hound aren't we Smoker-kun? Don't worry, I never thought of you as an ally anyway. I was going to have you die in an 'accident'," he glanced at the pirates in the cell along with the Marine, "But I'm sure it wouldn't be that surprising if it was reported instead that you died fighting against Straw Hat or Uzumaki...perhaps both."

Luffy grabbed a the jail bars, "Hey you! Fight meeeee..." He slumped to the ground as he felt his energy leave him from the effects of the kairoseki.

"Crocodile!"

The Shichibukai glanced up at the top of the stairs that lead down into the room, "Welcome back to Alabasta, Vivi-hime. Like what I've done to the place? I suppose congratulations are in order, for surviving my assassins for as long as you did."

Vivi looked down at Crocodile from the top of the stairs, "Of course, I'd come. I'd come from anywhere to watch you die, Mr. 0!"

Crocodile gave her a dangerous smirk, "It's your country that's going to die."

"If you weren't here, Alabasta would be in peace!" Vivi jumped at Crocodile, her Peacock Slashers spinning on her pinky, "Kujakku String Slasher!" She whipped out the slashers at Crocodile's head.

Luffy shouted at her to let them out as the other watched with interest. Her attack made contact, slashing at Crocodile's head. Luffy, Usopp and Nami watched with surprise as the attack made contact.

Smoker glanced over in the direction of Crocodile, "...Nope."

"Nice try, Vivi-hime," Crocodile's voice said from somewhere as he reformed behind the princess from sand, catching her from behind. Vivi struggled at his grip, "If you live in this country, by now you should know of my Suna-Suna no Mi powers. Shall I turn you into a mummy?"

"Hey!" Luffy yelled at him, "Let her go!"

Crocodile threw her at a chair, "Sit and stop glaring at me. I won't kill you, because today is a very special day. It's time is not, Miss All-Sunday?"

Miss All-Sunday looked at her watch, "Yes," She said, having never lost the calm smile on her face, "It's past 7."

Crocodile was on the cusp of victory of achieving his goal of taking over a country. And like all such masterminds, when the time came to it, he couldn't help but gloat over this fact to his captives. He told them everything, from how long it had taken him to get Alabasta to the point it was now.

From recruiting members for Baroque Works, saving up the necessary money to produce the Dance Powder that had been one of the main causes for the droughts that were occurring in the country. Stirring up the frustration of the people, framing the royal army soldiers of corruption, eroding the trust of the king, brick by boring brick.

From the tone of his voice, he was very proud of himself.

Naruto wanted to punch him in the face, 'I wonder if the others were able to make it to Alubarna.' It probably wouldn't matter anyhow, even if Konohamaru and Silk had been able to get Igaram to Alubarna and the king.

Apparently, Crocodile had a guy that could transform himself into someone, and one those someone's happened to be the king. In other words, Crocodile's lackey could very well easily shut down anything Igaram had to say, or even stir up even more trouble.

'Why can these things never be easy?' He wondered to himself. They always had to be ridiculously difficult didn't they?

Vivi threw herself to the floor and made to drag herself to Alubarna, "There's still time! If we can just make it to Alubarna east of here...!"

Crocodile watched her with amusement on his face. He took something out of his pocket, "Do you know what this is? A key. A key for that cell," he said, indicating towards the cell the others were locked in. He threw the key into a trap door that led into a chamber filled with giant crocodile looking animals called Bananadiles. He smirked down at the princess, "Go get it, Miss Wednesday."

Crocodile couldn't help but taunt them some more as he made to leave with Miss All-Sunday. The Straw Hats argued against themselves of having Vivi chase down the Bananadile that had ate the key to the cell.

Before leaving, Crocodile couldn't help but rile them up one more time. He revealed that he had been the cause of the constant sandstorms that had been successfully hitting the town called Yuba.

That was enough to nearly bring tears to Vivi's eyes as she bit down on her lip and swore to kill him through watery eyes. Crocodile merely laughed as he left, just as water started to flood the room.

"Man, that guy is a dick." Naruto said after Crocodile had left, "Gaara's way cooler than him. And I'm pretty sure he can beat that guys ass several times over anyway."

"Who the hell is Gaara? And how does this help the situation!?" Nami shouted at him. She stopped for a moment and took a moment to blink. She pointedly lamely at him, "Naruto..."

The blonde raised an eyebrow at the orange haired navigator, "Yeah?"

"How are you outside?"

Indeed, Naruto was not inside the jail cell like the others. In fact, he was actually outside. The others immediately took note of this and stared at the blonde as water continued to fill the room.

"The door of course." The ninja replied, "That's a silly question to ask Nami-chan."

Luffy stared at Naruto with eyes full of wonder, "How did you get out? This thing's hard as a diamond! And it saps my energy as well!"

The water was slowly filling the room. Naruto simply grabbed the door of the cell and opened it, "I pick locked the lock. I'm a ninja. Pick locking locks is one of the _first_ things they teach you." The others stared dumbly at Naruto. It became slightly unbearable, "...What?"

Nami just marched up to him and gave a slap right to the face that sent him flying, "You could have done that earlier!"

Naruto caressed his reddening cheek, tears welling up his eyes, "...But I wanted to be all dramatic and everything...I thought it would be cooler..." He defended himself weakly. In honest, this was not how he had seen this play out in his head.

Nami glared down at him. She actually felt like strangling the blonde. Sure, Nojiko would probably not be happy with her, but it difficult enough dealing with the several idiots on her crew, but knowing that her sister was in the hands of another?

Naruto scurried back at the look on Nami's face, before bumping into something. That something growled. He looked up for a moment and noticed that it was one of those giant, freaky looking crocodiles, "...Well, this is one great change of subject if I had ever seen one!"

XxX

Nojiko looked at the struggling and bloodied Gin, "I thought you were supposed to be some sort of fearsome pirate?"

"She had strange powers." Gin replied. He spit out some blood as Naruto continued to heal him, "They caught me by surprise." He frowned somewhat as he thought about it, "I don't think if I knew she had powers, I would have been able to win either way." Her ability to grow whatever she wanted on any surface by the looks of it made her a difficult opponent to fight.

The only thing he could think of that would have seen him likely to win was a surprise attack that she didn't know was coming. But if the result of what just happened was anything to go buy, the woman, could keep track of her surroundings pretty easily by growing eyes and maybe even more in her surroundings.

"Well, at least you didn't get it any worse than this guy." Naruto remarked as he thumbed in the direction of the still out and cold Pell, "I think he has a fractured spine or something. I don't know, but I definitely do know that bones were cracked. Who the hell is he anyway?" Gin had insisted that he help the man out when Naruto had come to collect him.

"Pell." Gin answered with a shrug.

Naruto stopped working on Gin as he moved to his next patient. Miss Valentine eyes widened momentarily, "Pell? Pell 'the Falcon'?" She gave the man broken man a once over as she took in his futures, imagining what he looked like underneath all that blood and dirt on his face, "Wow, how do you know, it _is_ him."

"You know him?" Nojiko asked.

Miss Valentine gave an undefined answer, "Sort off. I've heard of the man. Apparently, he's the strongest warrior in all Alabasta." She took a moment to look him over once more, "He certainly doesn't look all that strong."

Gin seemed to take offence at this. He had fought alongside Pell, even for just for a moment and his honour, or whatever a pirate called honour called upon him to defend him, "I would have very much liked for you to try and defeat this Miss All-Sunday."

Hearing the name, Miss Valentine was cowed, "Miss All-Sunday? You fought against her? No wonder you guys got beat. She's the second in command of Baroque Works and the partner of Mr. 0. She has to be crazy strong even for that."

"Oh yeah, I met her." Naruto casually revealed to the others, "...And she's pretty damn hot, even when she's being the evil mastermind's second-in-command. She has that dark chick look on lock."

Nojiko felt like slapping him on the back of the head, but Naruto was still working on healing Pell as best as he could, "Where did you even meet her?"

"Well, back in Whiskey Peak and a couple of minutes ago." Naruto hadn't actually been in the cage with the others. When he had ran after Luffy and the others, he had stopped when he noticed the very blatant trap that had been set for them.

A quick Kage Bunshin or two later and Naruto had hit the casino part of Rain Dinners to waste time. He had made a killing on each and every single table.

No wonder they had to kick him out. Of course, nobody kick Uzumaki Naruto out of anything. He had merely Henge'd into somebody new, changing a couple of features here and there before going off.

He had then seen Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday leave Rain Dinners and had made to follow them. Well, he had made to follow Miss All-Sunday. At the time, he had no idea who the man she was walking with, even was. If either of his clones had been destroyed, then it was a pretty good bet that Luffy and the others weren't in trouble.

Then he saw Miss Valentine and Nojiko try their best to keep out of sight of Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday. They were making a poor hash of it and Naruto had decided to step in to save them. That and go find Gin.

Gin wasn't his responsibility, but until he had gone off to wherever he was going, and not involved in some Naruto business, then he was his responsibility. He had come to like the man anyway.

Nojiko shook her head, "You never told us about this."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. He could feel his chakra working at some of the internal wounds inside Pell. He was making a good effort on stopping the internal bleeding, but the man would still need to see a doctor afterwards for more intensive check-through, "There really wasn't much to-fuck."

Miss Valentine raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"It's Luffy."

"What about him?"

"He's fighting Crocodile." Naruto told them. Miss Valentine chocked on air. Nojiko's eyes widened slightly. Gin was quiet. Naruto sighed, "And he's losing."

Great.

Now he had to go rescue the idiot.

* * *

**AN: Don't really like the Alabasta arc. Only reason I'm doing it is because there's a character I want for Naruto's crew. I think he's pretty awesome and should have been used more by Oda. So I'll be rushing this, but will try to deliver a quality piece of work.**

**Working on a rather large original arc that might change how the whole New World thing plays out, perhaps even before then. So yeah, there's that.**

**So laters.**

**Raiden.**


	11. Alabastan Nights

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece. They each belong to their respective owners._

* * *

Alabastan Nights

Luffy laid on his back, coughing out sand that was in his mouth. It had seemed like a great idea when he had tried it, but trying to eat Crocodile was perhaps not as smart as he thought it would be. Standing across from him, Crocodile glowered at him, "Enough of this bullshit...prepare to die. Along with the hardy soil of Yuba!"

The Straw Hat wearing pirate spit out the rest of the sand in his mouth, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, "Huh?"

Crocodile elaborated for the fool that had thought to fight him, "I said I didn't have time to play with you. Your three minutes are up." He held up a hand in front of him and a small sand based twister started forming, "Sables (Sandstorm)!" He let the sandstorm pick up speed and sand as it continued to twist between him and Luffy. He smiled to himself as he admired the days conditions, "The sand's nice and dry today."

XxX

(Rainbase)

The sandstorm had quickly gained in ferocity and height, enough for it to be noticed by the nearby residents of Rainbase who were panicking over it's sudden appearance.

"A sandstorm to the east of here!"

"Evacuate the city or we'll be buried in sand!"

Some of the citizens noticed something, "The wind's blowing to the south, it should bypass us!"

In the commotion, Smoker and his Marines looked in the direction of the sandstorm. Tashigi looked up in the sky, "Smoker-san, is that...?" She trailed of the question, sure that Smoker had been able to grasp what she was implying.

Smoker watched on in silence, a noticeable vein popping on his head and biting on the cigar in his mouth rather hard. He started walking, "Tashigi, look after the men!"

Tashigi stumbled for a bit as she watched her captain make his way through the watching crowds, "Yes sir!"

XxX

The sandstorm had started to slowly move south, kicking up sand and wind. Crocodile smiled menacingly at Luffy, "Listen up Straw Hat, the prevailing winds are always north to south. If the sandstorm spawned by this one rides that wind, travels south and matures..." He chuckled darkly to himself, "Where do you think it will end up?"

Luffy tried his best to keep the sand out of his face with a hand as he glared at Crocodile, "To the south?" He guessed.

Crocodile had a glint in his eyes, "Yuba."

Luffy launched himself at Crocodile and grabbed at his shoulders and shouted into his face, "What the hell do you think you are doing? That old man has nothing to do with you or this!"

Crocodile ignored him as he enjoyed the look on Luffy's face, "Look, the south wind is rising."

Luffy quickly turned and ran after the sandstorm, using his arms to protect his eyes and face from the wickedly fast winds as he tried to stop it, "Stop damn, you! Stop!" He didn't get far as the powerful winds around the sandstorm quickly threw him back, making him eat even more sand.

The Shichibukai laughed with cruel amusement at Luffy's display, "Kuhahaha, give up. Once this sandstorm picks up speed, even I won't be able to stop it. Yuba is finished."

Luffy picked himself up from the ground, a desperate look on his face, "Cut it out!" He grabbed at Crocodiles coat and pulled him straight into his face, "Cut it out, dammit! Stop it, righ n-!"

Luffy was cut short as Crocodile stabbed him with his hook. The Sand-using pirate glared down at Luffy, red veins visible in his eyes, "Just who do you think I am?" He effortless lifted Luffy up with his hook still impaling the young pirate, "There are plenty of rookies who are all talk, just like you, Straw Hat, here on the Grand Line."

"Yuba will die." Crocodile declared, looking at the badly wounded Luffy, "This final sandstorm will do it. It will light the flames of anger in the rebellion. This archaic love for others will destroy this country. The same goes for you Straw Hat Luffy. You would have lived longer if you hadn't succumbed to weaker emotions."

Crocodile found himself surprised when some star shaped object cut at his hand before someone yanked Luffy of the hook. Crocodile watched with annoyance as his arm reformed itself from sand, "Tsk. Another one. Are you all crawling out the dirt?" He asked when he saw Naruto fuss over Naruto.

"Holy shit, Luffy!" The blonde said aloud as he looked over the badly wounded young man, "What the fuck happened to you? Tell me you are still alive or something." Luffy weakly coughed, spitting out blood and that was enough for Naruto, "Oh good, because I don't think I can bring back people from the dead. I mean, I know a guy, but I doubt he would really want to." He placed a hand on Luffy gaping hole in his chest, "Hopefully, nothing too important was damaged, either wise, we would be in a bit of a problem."

Crocodile watched with annoyance as he was completely ignored by Naruto as he continued to do something to Straw Hat, "...You've got to be kidding me. I'm being ignored. Don't ignore me, you piece of trash! Dezato Supada (Desert Spada)!" Crocodile through a hand forward and a wave of sharp sand travelled through the ground towards Naruto's back.

Sensing the attack coming at him from behind, Naruto quickly scooped up Luffy in his arms before jumping away. He landed in a crouch and stared back at Crocodile, "Oi, if you really want the worst ass-kicking ever given in your pathetic life, just wait. I'll come to you in a moment." He told him before quickly going back to patching up Luffy.

'Just wait...?' Crocodile had been angry before, but some pubescent teen was now telling him to wait. Him, wait _for_ him? No. Certainly, no. He was having none of that. He turned into sand before appearing behind Naruto, his hook held out beside him for an attack before quickly slashing it at Naruto's head. The attack would be more than enough to separate the blonde's head from his shoulders.

"Impatient bastard..." Naruto mumbled as he ducked underneath the swing before quickly kicking him with a rising heel kick that smashed into Crocodile's head that turned into sand at the moment of impact. The ninja grumbled some more, "Great, I forgot about that." He grabbed Luffy and Shunshin'd a safe distance away before creating a clone to tend to Luffy, and protect him if Crocodile tried anything untoward the injured pirate. He faced off against Crocodile, "Alright, according to some people, you Shichibukai guys are supposed to be tough. Alright then, let's see how tough you really are."

Crocodile watched as Naruto set himself up in a stance before he started chuckling which turned into a full blown laugh, "Kuhahaha! 'Supposed to be tough'?" He repeated in-between laughing, "The Shichibukai are of the three World Powers! We're some of the strongest on the seas! Let me show you how out of league, you and Straw Hat are, on this sea." He smirked at him, "You can't even touch me anyway."

"You think so do you?" Naruto asked with a dangerous looking smile on his face. He quickly brought together his hands into a seal before drawing in air. Crocodile watched in confusion at the strange actions of the blonde before his eyes widened slightly at what happened next, "Suiton: Teppoudama (Water Release: Gunshot)!"

Naruto fired off several fast-moving, pressurised globs of water at Crocodile. The Shichibukai quickly got over his surprise and turned himself into sand to avoid the balls of water that sailed past where he had stood, crashing into the ground, creating small crater from the sheer force of them.

In his sand form, he travelled on the desert ground before reforming his hook underneath Naruto that shot up at him, aiming to catch him on the head. Naruto tilted his head back to avoid the attack before making a go to grab the hook, but the hook dissolved into sand when he caught it.

He jumped away when the sand suddenly jumped up and tried to envelope him within it's grasp. That attack looked dangerously similar to the type of attack Gaara would use. What, with the sand covering you and then crushing the living shit out of you.

Despite the similarities of attack of Crocodile and his old friend, Naruto had to admit, he was at a bit of a problem, water was obviously the way to go, but if anything, he didn't know any of the high level water jutsus that could affect a wide-scale area.

Lee had once told him about Team 11 battle with Hoshigaki Kisame in Kaze no Kuni. Naruto certainly had the chakra to create enough water to remake something of the extent of the deceased swordsman, but the problem was, he didn't know any high level water jutsus.

He had only started learning other elemental jutsus a while back and most of them were of the Futon (Wind Release) variety. He only knew a couple of utility jutsus from the other elements.

'Man, this is going to be a pain.' Tendrils of sand shaped to be like spears and more than likely just as deadly flew at him. The blonde ninja quickly got on his bike and started moving about as he dodged them to the best of his abilities.

Well, he supposed some credit had to be given to these Shichibukai folks. They seemed rather tough. Naruto dived away from one of the tendrils of sand before Crocodile formed right behind and brought down his hook.

Naruto sensed him coming and evaded the attack and went to retaliate with a punch, but Crocodile laughed as his punch went through him. Naruto found himself having trouble pulling out his arm from Crocodiles body as the older pirate had trapped it, "Well, I'll admit, you certainly made it a bit more challenging unlike Straw Hat. And quite surprising as well." He was many a things, but at the very least, he would tell this unfortunate little bastard that he had made him slightly work for it. He raised his hook, "This is the end, for you and Straw Hat."

Naruto ripped out his trapped hand from Crocodile's sandy prison before catching him by surprise as he punched him the stomach. _Punched_ him in the stomach, enough for Crocodile to get the wind knocked of him as he certainly not been expecting it at all.

Naruto followed on that punch with another to the face that send the Sandman rolling on the desert floor, coming to a halt on his back, staring up to the sky. He slowly got up as he processed what had just happened, "You hit me. How did you hit me?" There was no water anywhere, so it couldn't have been that.

Haki then? But this far back on the Grand Line and a nobody as well? Where could he have learned to use Haki and why did he not use it earlier? So many questions went through Crocodile's head. Then he noticed something about Naruto. Well, specifically his eyes. They resembled that of a toad, 'A Zoan-type? But what does that have anything to do with hitting me?' And just why where the eyes the noticeable transformation?

"Oh man, that felt GOOD!" Naruto suddenly whooped aloud before doing a short jiggy on the spot, "Oh yeah! I've been wanting to punch you in the face like that for a while now, cause you're a bastard and everything." He wanted to do even more now, other than punch him in the face since he could now actually hit him.

To be honest, sometimes, Naruto wondered why he hadn't tried it before. That kairoseki stuff could affect people with Devil Fruit powers and it gave off a similar feel to natural energy. So maybe Sage Mode could affect DF users as well.

It had come to him in the heat of the moment and since Kurama did nothing but sit on his ass all day, it had easy for the giant fox of nothing more than chakra to scrounge up the necessary chakra for Naruto to enter Sage Mode.

And Kurama had delivered. Even for a being composed of nothing more than chakra, drawing in natural energy was simply tedious and difficult.

Still though, he didn't have enough natural energy for a prolonged fight. He had to make this quick.

"You are full of surprises aren't you?" Crocodile asked as he spit out some blood to the ground. He moved his jaw a bit, to test it out.

Naruto grinned in a rather feral manner at him, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Desert Grande Espada (Large Desert Spada)!" A blade of sand rose from the ground at an angle and Naruto was barely able to dodge it as the attack had come at him by complete surprise.

He certainly had not been expecting that and if it wasn't for Sage Mode and his shinobi senses, he would have more than likely been bifurcated by the sand blade. Landing on his feet, Naruto blurred from sight as he rushed straight for Crocodile.

Now knowing that Naruto's attacks could harm him, the moment that Naruto had disappeared from his sight, the crocodile-themed pirate immediately turned his body into sand and took refuge in the desert floor, "You might be able to hit me, Uzumaki," Crocodile's voice rang out from around Naruto as he looked around, straining his senses to get a fix on the man, "But this is the worst possible environment for you to fight me. I'm a Sandman...and we happen to be in a desert, full of sand. Did you think I chose this country out of pure happenstance? Give me a break. This was over before it even began, Dezato Girasole (Desert Sunflower)!"

A pit of quicksand suddenly covered a large area around Naruto was standing in and it started to quickly suck Naruto in, "Oh hell, no." Naruto jumped up and created a shadow clone that threw him to escape the pit of quicksand before disappearing.

As he landed, more tendrils of sand shot from the ground trying to catch them within their grasp, and once more, Naruto got on his bike and started dodging them all. This fight was getting nowhere seriously fast.

Sage Mode was going to run out soon enough and Kurama was already gathering even more natural energy for him later on, but it wouldn't really matter all that much if Crocodile kept on hiding within the sand. Sensing him through Sage Mode was far more difficult than he thought it would be.

There were pieces of him all over the place...which in retrospect kind of did make sense. The man was composed of thousands, perhaps even millions of granules of sand, and he could control the sand around as well. So it wasn't that much of a far fetched thing to think that he would hide himself in the desert by spreading himself out as much as he could.

It sort of reminded Naruto of how Gaara did that sensing thing of his within the desert.

Oh, how he wished Gaara was here right now. This would have been a fight worth fighting...actually that brought a thought to Naruto. Since Crocodile was made of sand, did that mean Gaara could control him?

Hmm...something to think about later, preferably when someone wasn't trying to kill him.

Crocodile, or more accurately, Crocodile's hook came at him from below in an upward swing. The blonde ninja skidded to a halt and leaned his body back as far as he could without falling backwards to avoid the attack.

The sand tendrils that had been chasing after Naruto immediately closed in on him due to having stopped moving. To avoid being skewered by the sand, he quickly replaced himself with the clone that had been looking after Luffy.

"...Okay, you're tougher than I thought you would be." Naruto admitted as he looked around, Sage Mode enhanced senses perusing his surroundings in the look out for another attack. He created another clone to look after Luffy as he went back into the fray, "But I can kick your ass." Somehow, anyway. Then an idea came to him. He didn't particularly know any high-level water ninjutsus, but he did not one particular water ninjutsu that pumped with enough chakra, something he had a lot of, could easily push the bracket into the higher tiers. He quickly started doing the hand signs, and from the sand, waves of sharp sand came rushing at him. Apparantly, Crocodile had figured it out that hand signs were bad, too bad his attack wasn't fast enough, "It's my win, bitch! Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Formation Wall)!"

Having kneaded the necessary chakra, Naruto released a massive torrent of water from his mouth that formed a semi-circular defensive wall around him, Luffy and his clone. Crocodile's attack hit the shield of water and was quickly and easily neutralised.

But Naruto wasn't done. He pumped even more chakra into the wall and pushed it out over the wide-spread area in the general direction that Crocodile's attack had come from. With the amount of chakra that Naruto had pumped into the jutsu, a massive, tidal wave of water rushed forth, soaking and washing up everything in it's path.

"Ha!" Naruto yelled, "See if you can avoid that-" He stopped for a moment when he saw his water jutsu suddenly start to dry up just like that. He looked up into the sky, "I know I'm in a desert, but it can't be that _hot_."

Crocodile revealed himself as the last of the water dried up. A smirk on his face as his hand touched the ground, "Ground Secco (Mud Crack)...Thanks for the water," He told Naruto, a condescending tone to his voice, "I was getting thirsty."

Crocodile was now one of the least favourite people Naruto had ever had the displeasure of meeting, "What the hell was that? Did you just suck up all that water? You can't do that! That's cheating!"

The Shichibukai merely chuckled deeply, "Tell it to someone who cares. Now I've had enough of this. Die. Sables: Pesado (Sandstorm: Heavy)!" A swirling mass of extremely dense sand started forming around Crocodile's outstretched hand.

Naruto looked at the intensity of the miniature sandstorm that Crocodile had formed and immediately realised something, "...That is not good." It didn't even look better when Crocodile threw it at him and the sandstorm quickly picked up pace and size as it grew when it came towards him.

The heavy sandstorm was kicking up sand and wind and although Naruto was pretty confident that he had something in his arsenal that could destabilise or even outright destroy the sandstorm, getting close to it would be a problem.

Good thing he didn't need to get close. The element he was about to use was his natural element, long before he had picked up the others and when he used it came easier to him. And it required less hand seals after hours of training with it.

"Futon: Kami Oroshi (Wind Release: Godly Wind from the Mountains)!" He pushed his arms out, palms facing forward and a vortex of wind blasted out from his hands straight at the sandstorm.

The two attacks clashed as each pushed against the other, but it seemed as if Naruto's attacks was going to more than likely feed the sandstorm. Naruto just went with the simple, brutal, but effective move of simply brute forcing it by pumping an obscene amount of chakra into the jutsu.

The vortex of wind suddenly picked up strength and blasted away the sandstorm, travelling past it before Naruto released the jutsu. He took a moment to take an appreciative glance of just exactly what he had done.

A several dozen meter wide trench had been carved into the sand that seemed to continue to race on into the distance. Sometimes, Naruto had to remind himself that he was a walking weapon of mass destruction if he actually wasn't careful with the things he did.

He was still in Sage Mode and the natural chakra had more than enhanced the jutsu as well, but he still had his senses around him. He scanned around for Crocodile, to see if he was still in the area. Nothing.

Just to be sure, Naruto focused a bit more and didn't sense the man. He had to admit, he was more or less confused, "Alright, where did he go?" Crocodile didn't seem to be like the type of guy to bail on a fight, especially one that he seemed to be winning without making sure there was a body first. He looked at the trench again and in the direction it had gone on. He though for a moment and let it sink in...there was no way was there? "Did I just blow him away?" If so, it was still a win and he did somewhat technically kick his ass, "...I am awesome!"

His shinobi senses kicked in as he sensed an attack coming at him from behind. He turned on a dime and leaned out of the way of the punch, ready to retaliate only to see it was Luffy that had attacked him. He stopped himself from injuring the boy he had just healed, "Luffy, what the hell!?"

Luffy stared at Naruto with a rather angry expression as his extended arm came back at him, "Crocodile was mine! I called dibs!"

"No you did not!" Naruto was never one for stealing somebody else's dibs. And he certainly did not do so here, "What the hell are you on about? And dibs only counts if I hear you call dibs!"

Luffy wasn't listening, "Crocodile is mine to beat!" This was _his_ fight. Not Naruto's nor anybody else's. He had something to prove here, and most of all, he had made a damn promise. He was going to see it to the end and be personally involved in it. He wasn't going to have somebody else fight his battles for him!

"You could barely even touch the guy." What was wrong with Luffy? Couldn't he see the man had been killing him out there? "The guy put his _hook_ through you." Naruto could not stress that enough.

Luffy had a defiant look on his face as he crossed his arms, "I'm still alive aren't I? And I feel better than ever as well, like it never even happened." That was a sort of lie. He still felt somewhat tender, but far better than he thought being stabbed alive would have consisted off.

A tick mark formed on Naruto's head, "Cause I healed you, dumbass!"

Luffy blinked, "Oh well thanks...not like I needed it or anything. But yeah, I'm still going to fight Crocodile. He's mine. I won't forgive you if you fight him again."

Naruto had trouble understanding all this but he had to show Luffy something. He pointed at the trench behind him that stretched on into the horizon, "I sort of blew him away. I think. I don't know. I can't sense him around." Luffy looked at the trench and immediately started making for a go into the direction it had been formed in. Naruto stopped him from going any further by pulling him back on his shirt, "Seriously Luffy, do you have a death wish or something? The guy is supposed to be one of the toughest guys in the world if he's some sort of Shichibukai, whatever that is, and you still want to fight him?"

"So what, are you going to fight all my battles for me?" Luffy questioned as he looked up at Naruto, all the goofiness having vanished from his face. Naruto was silent as he thought about it, "No? I didn't think so." He removed Naruto's hands from his shirt and set them aside, "Naruto, I'm going to find One Piece and be Pirate King. There's thousands of other pirates as well with the same dream. Not all of them are going to be tough, some are definitely going to be tough, others even super tough. Point is, what kind of Pirate King leaves another person to fight his battles? That's no Pirate King at all. I don't want to be that kind of Pirate King. It wouldn't be worth it."

Naruto could only stare on and just simply realised he might as well have been looking at a younger of himself. That might as well have been the same kind of bullshit thing he had said to Konohamaru back when he was still a bratty half-pint with the whole him being the Third's grandson.

Now that he thought about it, if someone had helped him, if someone had fought all the battles he needed to fight to become Hokage, if someone had overcame the challenges that _he_ himself, that Naruto had to overcome for that post he had been chasing after all his life, would he still want to be Hokage?

The answer was simple. No.

He would want to become Hokage on his own two feet. Yeah, sure, he wasn't above asking for help when it came to his training, but he had fought all his enemies and overcame all the challenges he needed to by himself and with the help of friends sometime.

And this challenge was Luffy's. Naruto couldn't go around taking that away from him.

"You might die." He pointed after a moment of contemplation.

Luffy rolled his eyes, "We are _pirates_, Naruto. On the Grand Line. Something as silly as death isn't all that terrifying."

Naruto smiled at him. The kid had balls, but there was just one thing. He slapped him, "I'm _not_ a pirate. I'm a goddamn ninja. Call me a pirate, one more time, I dare you. I double dare you, motherfucker."

"Oh my, how touching."

Naruto and Luffy turned their heads to see Miss All-Sunday, watching them with a blank expression, "Got bored of just watching? If you want to fight, come at me. I'll blow you away." Naruto offered.

Nico Robin ignored Naruto and looked straight at Luffy, her expression unchanged, "Why do you fight? All of you, who carry the name 'D'." The rim of her hat shadowed her eyes as she looked at the dark haired pirate, 'Just what in the world, are you?'

"'D'? What's that?" He was about as clueless as they came to this whole thing.

More people arrived in the clearing, amongst including the recently healed Pell who seemed up and running. When he saw Nico Robin, he wasn't at all pleased with what he found, "What did you do with Vivi-hime!?" He demanded of her.

Nico Robin shared a look in his direction and noted the group of people he was with. The rest of Naruto's crew if she remembered correctly, although she had not seen the older man that was with them back in Whiskey Peak. A new addition by the looks of it and a powerful one, considering, "Oh you're awake." And was that Miss Valentine? How surprising.

Pell had his sword in hand and looked at Nico Robin menacingly, "Now that I know how your powers work, I won't be defeated so easily."

"Oh stop it you," Robin turned and started walking away from the group towards one of the large crocodiles with the banana like growths, "This is actually perfect timing. Why don't you introduce yourself to the gallant knights that saved your princess? The princess is fine, by the way, she's on her way to Alubarna as of right now. I don't know what will happen, but with all the warring going on, who knows?"

"You seem to be working on the assumption that Crocodile is still very much alive," Naruto pointed out. He thumbed in the direction of the trench his jutsu had created, "I'd be very surprised if he survived that."

Robin had climbed upon the Bananadile and taken her seat. She smiled calmly at him, "I don't think a little wind is enough to take down Crocodile. You might have just made him angry." She looked off into the distance as the Bananadile began to move, "And anyway, there's something in Alubarna that I have to see."

The group watched Nico Robin leave, through all of that, there was one thing that most of them had caught on, "Wait a second, you did that?" Miss Valentine asked as she looked at the trench, "And did you just say you blew Crocodile away?" She knew he was tough, but not of the tough kind that made 'miles long trenches in the desert' tough. Perhaps that was one of the reasons that Miss All-Sunday didn't immediately go for the jugular when she saw her.

Too wary of Naruto, perhaps?

After seeing the stuff he and Konohamaru had done back on Commi Island, Nojiko had taken on the mind-set to not be surprised with the things that Naruto could do. Or Konohamaru for that matter. She would have lost it if she continued to question everything on what was possible and what wasn't, "See? Naruto-kun is strong."

"I don't know, maybe. He isn't around anymore." Naruto said as he replied to Miss Valentine's question, "He'll probably be pissed though if he's still around. He just seems like that sort of guy." The arrogant kind that hates to losing to small fries. He just looked the sort.

"Right, which way is Alubarna?" Luffy asked all of a sudden, "My crew is going there and there's still stuff that needs to be done."

Miss Valentine pointed in the direction that Miss All-Sunday had rode off into, "That way, I'm guessing."

Luffy nodded and turned to go of in that direction but was held back by Naruto, "Knowing you, in a desert, you'll more than likely end up dead or lost." He said as the would-be Pirate King struggled against him.

"If you plan to make it to Alubarna in time to stop the battle, you'll never be able to make it by foot." Pell interjected.

"What do you suggest then?" Gin asked.

Pell answered by turning into his giant falcon form. Naruto looked on, pretty impressed, "That's pretty awesome."

"I can give one of you a lift at the very least. Anymore and I doubt I'll be able to fly." The strongest warrior in Alabasta told them.

Naruto looked at Pell before unceremoniously chucking Luffy in his direction. Luffy crashed into Pell's chest before dropping onto the ground face first, "You take him. This is his fight after-all," He had made that very specific, "We'll catch-up."

"Dammit Naruto! Don't think I won't kick your butt just because we're friends!" Luffy shouted as he quickly sat up.

The blonde jounin waved him off, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just go already. Crocodile might be out of it for now, but who knows what's going to be happening in Alubarna? She might still be in danger. Stop whining and get going, or I'll take care of all this myself."

The young pirate's eyes widened, "You promised!" He said before quickly scrambling onto his feet and getting onto Pell's back.

Pell looked from Naruto to glancing back at the pirate on his back. In truth, he would have very much preferred to have the blonde one rather than this one on his back. At least the blonde one had a semblance of a working brain.

"Right, we'll be going then." He said before giving one great big flap of his wings to lift off the ground before another flap to shoot off into the skies in the direction of Alubarna.

The others watched as Pell took off into the skies for a few moment, "So Naruto-kun," Nojiko said, speaking up, "How are we going to get to Alubarna in time for all this stuff going down?"

Naruto could only smile, "I'm so glad you asked."

XxX

Smoker rolled his bike to a slow stop as he came across the area that had seen signs of a significant and recent battle. The still active quicksand and trench being more than testament to that. He looked off into the direction that he had seen Uzumaki and his crew ride off into.

He had been made witness to the fight between Crocodile and Uzumaki...and Uzumaki had won, 'He's far more dangerous than he looks.' Smoker realised as he unconsciously eyed the trench that had been made from one of his attacks, 'He beat Crocodile. A Shichibukai.' Not that he cared all that much about those dogs of the government, but beating a Shichibukai was a rather big deal.

When the higher-ups learn about this, Smoker was sure that an uproar would be made. No-one was supposed to beat the Shichibukai. They were one of the Three Great Powers for a reason, and a pirate that had come out of literally nowhere some couple of months ago had come and beat one?

Sengoku was going to have a field day, 'It's not my problem anyway.' He turned his bike round and began to make his way back to the ship. Some reports and messages had to be sent. People had to know what was happening in Alabasta.

Once again, pirates had proven that they couldn't be trusted to carry out the justice of the world.

XxX

( Sometime Later - With Konohamaru &amp; Silk)

Konohamaru crashed into one of the palace walls with enough force to create a spider web imprint on it. He dropped to the ground and landed with a thud. He slowly got himself up to all fours. He looked up at the person that was giving him an ass kicking, blood seeping out of his mouth, "Okay, this might be far harder than I thought it would be." He said looking at Crocodile who had a dark expression on his face. The young chunin laughed at the expression the man had on his face, "What's wrong with you, did the boss give you the ass kicking of your life?" He would have preferred it if the boss had put the man down for good, but it seemed that was a little bit too much to ask for.

And considering the man's powers, some benefit of the doubt could be given to Naruto. Turning into sand whenever you felt like it would make it really difficult to win in a fight.

Crocodile looked at Konohamaru as sand slowly swirled around him. His eyes fixated on the headband around the teenager head that reminded him of a certain blonde, "I think killing you and the girl would piss off Uzumaki. It would show him that no-one, _no-one _humiliates me like that."

Konohamaru cast a glance in the direction of Silk, lying on the ground unmoving. He could still see some minute movement of the chest and some wheezing, so she was still alive...but really, _really_ dehydrated. She looked more akin to a mummy than a human.

His eyes went back over to Crocodile, 'I can't beat this guy.' Everything he had tried had failed, badly. He couldn't even touch him. He had figured water would do the trick, but he didn't know any water jutsus and there didn't seem to be any nearby water around. An idea came to mind, "Katon: Goryuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu)!"

With the Tiger seal firmly in place, Konohamaru kneaded the chakra within his chest and turned it into fire chakra before spitting out a giant fireball that had the form of a dragon's head. The fireball roared as it sped towards Crocodile, the palace room increasing in temperature at the mere presence of the jutsu.

"If I can't hit you, I might as well turn you into glass!" Konohamaru shouted above the roar of the fireball. The dragon's head shaped fireball hit something as it exploded and flames and smoke were produced. Smoke and dust covered Konohamaru field of vision but he couldn't really sense Crocodile anywhere, "Ha! How did you like that?"

"You and Uzumaki..." Crocodile's voice rang out from behind him as he reformed himself from sand, his clothes slightly singed from having a close call with the fireball. Konohamaru lashed out with a kick behind him to disrupt his reformation, but Crocodile merely moved past the kick and attacked the trailing leg, "Barjan (Crescent Shaped Dune)!" He swung his arm at the leg, leaving behind a crescent shaped trail of sand behind it, "Are all full of tricks aren't you? One can spit water, the other fire. I'm sure you have many more tricks up your sleeves, fit for a circus, but I don't have the time for such things. And if you haven't noticed, I'm a tad bit angry right now."

Konohamaru took in sharp intakes of air as he saw his withered leg fall to the ground, Crocodile having sucked all the moisture out of it, just like he had done with Silk a few moments ago, "You bastard..." He said in-between takes of air. The pain was unbearable. One of the worst things he had felt in his life.

No wonder Silk was out of it. The limit to the amount of pain she could take must have been reached with just how dehydrated she was.

"If you're going to blame someone for this, blame your captain. For picking a fight he had no right to be picking." Crocodile gloated down at him, "That, and for making me angry. Your deaths are on his head." He raised a leg to bring down on Konohamaru's head to crush it, but the ninja rolled away before it could make contact. Instead, Crocodile made a crater in the palace floor.

Although he hated to leave a fight half-finished, he knew that he was outmatched on this one and that he really, really did not have that much of a chance. The man was too quick for him. Too strong and he just couldn't get a good hit in either way.

"Oh man, one of these days, I'm so going to get you back for this." The chunin promised.

Crocodile sand a wave of sand after him, "That day is never going to come. Why? Because you're going to die. Today."

Konohamaru dug into his supply pouch and pulled out some small smoke bombs, "That's what you think." He threw the smoke bombs into the ground and smoke covered the area that they had been fighting in.

When the smoke had cleared, Crocodile let out an annoyed sound as he saw that Konohamaru and Silk had disappeared from the room. Miss All-Sunday walked in, "How do you know, he really is a ninja." She mused seeing the aftermath of Konohamaru's vanishing trick.

"Ninja, pirate, samurai, it doesn't matter. When this is all over and done with, I'm killing him and his captain and everyone else." Crocodile said as he turned to go towards the throne room.

"You lost to his captain." Miss All-Sunday couldn't help but point out, a calm smile on her face, even when she felt the killing intent directed towards her by Crocodile for that.

Crocodile glared darkly at her, "Watch yourself, Nico Robin. Don't think I won't kill you." He turned his head to look forward as he continued to walk, "Uzumaki won by a fluke." Now that he knew what Uzumaki could do, the next time they fought, he would win. End of.

Miss All-Sunday aka Nico Robin laughed calmly to herself, not at all affected by the threat, "Yes, yes. Whatever you say, Mr. 0."

XxX

(Outskirts of Alubarna)

Naruto and his group of riff-raff had finally been able to make it all the way to Alubarna and judging by the smoke and distant sounds of gunfire and fighting they could hear, they seemed to have made it just when the fighting was starting to pick up pace.

To get to Alubarna in record time, Naruto had summoned a group of toads, not as large as Gama but just a little bit smaller to serve as their transport. The toads had made record time in getting them there as fast as they had.

Naruto could have made it here faster anyhow, "You think Luffy and the others are there, yet?" He asked.

"They left before us, so, yeah. Probably. Isn't that much of a guess to think so." Gin said.

Nojiko watched as an explosion rang out in the city and more smoke rose into the air, "I hope they're okay." Her voice and face filled with concern.

"They'll be fine." Naruto encouraged her, "Those guys are pretty tough."

"Naruto-kun," Nojiko called out, "You should go ahead. We'll catch up."

Naruto glanced at her, "I should?"

The blue haired navigator gave him a nod, "You're faster than all of us. Even than these toads of yours I'm guessing. You should go ahead and try to help Vivi-hime as best as you could."

"Eh, does he really have to go though?" Miss Valentine asked, "I'm feeling pretty safe with him around."

Gin cast a look in her direction, "You're still afraid of Crocodile? You saw Naruto take care of him."

The jumpy Baroque Works agent looked away, abashed, "Until I see a body, I'll be of the mind that Crocodile is very much still alive. So I'm sticking with Blondie over there."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah, well, you can stick with Blondie if you can keep up." He said as he jumped off the toad he was running before speeding off in the direction of Alubarna, "But if you can't, too bad!" He shouted behind him.

"H-Hey!" Miss Valentine called out after him. She watched as Naruto became nothing more than a distant fast moving dot in the distance, "...I think I'm starting to hate that guy." Her life used to be so simple before he came along and threw it upside down.

Nojiko smiled, "If you say so. Now come on, we've got a kingdom to save." Oh wow, she certainly had not seen herself doing any kingdom saving a couple of months back. How times have changed.

XxX

(With Naruto)

Naruto came to landing atop one of the buildings in Alubarna. Everywhere around him, he could hear the sounds of battle, 'I suppose the more things change, the more they stay the same.' Was war and fighting going to be something people can never get over?

It was said that with age and time came wisdom. The Elemental Continent had been able to find peace...well, as close as peace as it could get. The Five Great Villages actually got reasonably well with each other nowadays without the usual suspicion and everything that came along with that.

If the Old Man Sage had wanted to bring peace and understanding to the Elemental Continent, why did his dream just stop there? Why not the entire world?

Then again, with how the Elemental Continent had ended up, getting people to understand each other throughout the entirety of the world could have been a little bit...problematic. At least, now that he thought about it, the way the Sage had tried to solve the world peace problem had several flaws in it.

The man had good intentions, clearly but the way he had planned the whole bringing peace to the world (continent) could have used a little bit more planning, but then again, Naruto and the others who knew the truth had the benefit of hindsight.

The Sage didn't. He was just making do with the best that he had at that point.

He scanned the area of the thousands of men fighting amongst themselves. Fighting for nothing. None of them, perhaps even less of that knowing that they are fighting for nothing more than a lie. Wars had been started for many things, many of them might have been good reasons, but for the ambitions of one man, built on a lie on the dignity of a (supposed) good man was not something Naruto considered a good reason.

If there ever was a good reason to go to war.

He brought his hands together. No more people were going to die in a pointless battle, as long as he had something to say about it, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" Hundreds of clones and hundreds more suddenly appeared on the rooftops around Naruto before jumping down into the melees below, attacking both rebel and loyalist.

They weren't there to kill though. They were there to knock them out, to stop them fighting. And that's what they did.

Seeing his wave of blonde haired clones join the melee down below, Naruto was pleased with what he saw. He had caught a lot of the soldiers by surprise, and many of them had been taken out because of that, but soon enough they would start fighting against his clones.

If needed, the blonde would continue to create more. It was at times like this he wished that he knew a wide scale genjutsu or ninjutsu that knocked people out, 'Shodaime-jiji's Mokuton: Kajukai Korin (Wood Release: Deep Forest Bloom) would have really come in hand right about now.' It sucked that the Mokuton was a bitch to learn, even if he had the Shodaime's cells implanted into him, 'Now where the fuck is Konohamaru and Silk?' He thought to himself as he looked around, spreading out his sensory abilities.

He was able to pick up the chakra signature of Konohamaru in the outskirts of Alubarna, with another weaker, chakra signature with him, 'That's definitely Konohamaru.' It could only be him. He was the only person in the city with a developed chakra circulatory system and he guessed the other person he was with, was Silk.

As he began to make his way towards his fellow ninja's location, he wondered why the ninja wasn't at the palace. Well, it didn't matter, he was going to ask the younger ninja when he found him anyway.

XxX

(With Nojiko)

"Great." Nojiko muttered to herself as she made her way down an empty street, "We just had to get separated didn't we? Can anything ever be easy?" She wanted to wail at the heavens, but then realised what exactly would that do? Nothing. Nothing at all.

To the surprise of no-one, it seemed that directly charging for the city that was currently under attack was not perhaps the greatest they ever had. A spotter on the walls had noticed them approach, thinking them as more rebels had ordered for Nojiko and the rest to be fired upon.

Nojiko and the others had quickly separated under the cannon fire they had been put under. She didn't know if the others had been able to make it to the city or not, but she had faith in them. Gin was plenty strong and Miss Valentine...well, she was strong, other wise she wouldn't have been a high ranking agent of Baroque Works now wouldn't she?

Having made it into the city, Nojiko had tried looking for her sister, which now that she thought about it, was more than likely looking a needle in a haystack. A haystack that was currently at war, but a haystack nonetheless.

There were thousands, if not, hundreds of thousands of rebels and loyalists fighting in the streets, and sometimes, she swore she could see the odd and occasional blonde of Naruto amongst the fray as well.

Looking for Nami in such a situation was not going to be easy, but she knew her sister. Nami wasn't one for fights, so Nojiko did the next best thing, she made her way towards the palace following the back streets were the least fighting was occurring. If she was Nami, that was what she would do.

Perhaps, if luck was on her side, she would run into her sister or one of the other Straw Hats if they were around.

Making her way through the back streets, Nojiko came to a stop in one of them when she noticed a strange sight. Lying straight in the middle of the city was a woman with curly dark blue hair wearing the most ridiculously clothing she had ever seen. Her curly hair looked all frizzy like she had been on the bad end of an electric shock, and some smoke was wafting of her unmoving frame.

Nojiko made her way towards her and poked her with the toe of her shoes when she came close enough. The woman didn't seem to be one of the many soldiers that were fighting, not a loyalist. So perhaps a rebel or even a Baroque Works agent? 'I wonder who did this?' Well, it didn't matter. At the end of the day, she could guess it was one of the Straw Hats. So they were here, that was good news.

The woman groaned and seemed to be coming to her senses, but her body twitched and spasm'd involuntary every now and then. Nojiko took out a pistol from one of her holsters and pointed it at her, "Who are you?"

The blue haired woman blinked her eyes for a moment as she got used to the sunlight after being knocked out for so long. When she spoke, she didn't seem to be at all disturbed by the fact that she was now on the receiving end of a gun barrel.

She chuckled somewhat humourlessly to herself, "The fact that I'm not dead means you aren't a billion or frontier agent looking for a quick promotion." She said, before taking a moment to stifle a groan as her mouth twitched all of a sudden, "...I suppose I should thank you for that."

Nojiko prodded her again with her boot, "Yeah," She drawled, "You didn't answer my question. Who are you?"

"Miss Doublefinger."

The navigator took in some air, "Baroque Works."

"Bingo." Miss Doublefinger looked past the barrel, rather difficult with how close it was to her face, to look at the person that was holding her at gun point, "...Hm, you are one of those pirates that helped the princess, aren't you?" The Unluckies had portraits of everyone, well, nearly everyone that Nefertari Vivi had enlisted in helping her stop their operation.

"Not a pirate." Well according to Naruto anyway, but people seemed convinced that they were, "We don't even do anything pirate-y...actually, the whole bounty thing on Naruto-kun and Kono-kun's head is a complete and utter mistake."

Miss Doublefinger took a moment before laughing, "First that orange haired girl, and now you. First the Straw Hats and now the Uzumaki Pirates. You're all filled with strange people aren't you?"

Nojiko cocked her head to the side, "Uzumaki Pirates?" What the hell was that? Was that what people called them? "Not very imaginative is it though?"

"I heard through the grapevine it was going to be Maelstrom, Whirlpool, but Uzumaki is the most noticeable of your bunch. And Uzumaki's last name itself is pretty badass. They just went with it."

An eyebrow was raised, "You seem to know a lot about how the Marines work."

Miss Doublefinger tried to smile, but there was still electricity coursing through her body and it made it all come out rather weird and ugly, "Perks of the job when it comes to your boss being a Shichibukai, I suppose. So are you going to kill me or not?"

"Not until you tell me something." Miss Doublefinger gave a small movement of her head. A nod, "You said something about an orange haired girl. What happened to her?"

"We fought. She won." Miss Doublefinger said, "And if you haven't noticed, I've sort of being lying in the street for a while now, and not for the fun of it. She probably went on her way to help the princess most like. Why?"

Nojiko went to reply but she heard something in the wind. It was the beat of a wing and the cocking of a gun. She immediately dived for cover and not long after where she had been standing, a spray of bullets battered the area as a vulture with an otter on it's back swooped by.

By instinct and nothing more, Nojiko returned fire at the vulture as it rose back up into the air, "Great, the Unluckies." Miss Doublefinger muttered to herself as she saw the vulture and otter pair circle high above them in the sky. She noticed something dropped in their direction and her eyes widened slightly, "Hey! I'm right here!" If she could move, Miss Doublefinger swore that she would skewer that pair if it was the last thing she would do.

Nojiko saw what was being dropped and it was a bomb. She had been about to make a dash into one of the buildings for cover but then heard Miss Doublefinger's cry, 'Dammit! I'm too nice!' She wailed to herself as she turned around and quickly grabbed the Baroque Works agent.

Miss Doublefinger was more than surprised to say the least at the act of kindness, "What are you doing? We're supposed to be enemies!"

The blue-haired gunner found herself rather surprised that she could carry the weight of Miss Doublefinger with seemingly little effort on her part, 'Naruto-kuns training coming through once again.' She realised, "Well, my sister already beat you and at the moment, it seems that bird and mutt pair up there couldn't really careless about you right now. And you might actually have information on what Crocodile is up to."

The bounty hunter-cum-assassin laughed at Nojiko's reasoning, "Whatever you have to tell yourself, girl." She knew just the amount of information she needed to know to finish her job, that was it. Mr. 0 was never as careless to give his agents too much information, "But thanks for the save." She finished off as the bomb landed in the street they had cleared and exploded, blowing out windows and doors.

Thankfully, it wasn't strong enough to blow down any buildings other wise they would have found themselves in a rather bad place to take shelter in. Nojiko dropped Miss Doublefinger to the ground unceremoniously, "Whatever. I'm not doing this for you." More than likely, she was doing it for herself. Leaving her to die just like that wasn't something she could see herself doing.

Nojiko made her way to the blown out window and looked outside and saw that the vulture and bird were still circling the area, "I'm so going to hell if I end up killing that vulture and otter." She muttered to herself as she reloaded her revolver before taking out the other one.

Miss Doublefinger really couldn't careless about Nojiko's current animal-friendly facet having heard what she had muttered to herself, "I think God won't mind this time. It's in self-defence after all."

Nojiko ignored the remark as she took into account her opponent. No doubt about it, the vulture and otter had a machine gun and bombs for their arsenal and she had two revolvers for her own arsenal. They had her beat on range and area attacks.

She had to make them come at her.

In other words, she had to make them come at her for another pass and that meant making herself very vulnerable by putting herself into the open. A dry look came onto Nojiko's face as she steeled herself, "This is going to be fun." She said before jumping through the blown out window.

She fired two rounds at the bird up in the sky but the bird moved to avoid them. It quickly turned into a dive as it chased after Nojiko to make a pass for her. The otter on it's back cocked the machine gun attached to it's back before pressing down on the trigger and releasing a torrent of bullets Nojiko.

"Worst. Idea. Ever!" Nojiko yelled out as she ran in a zig-zagging manner to avoid the stream of bullets that were constantly at her feet. She dived last minute through and open door as the bullets got to close for her comfort.

Mr. 13 pulled up at the last minute to avoid crashing into the street and as he passed, Miss Friday threw a bomb into the house that Nojiko had taken cover in. Not long after Mister 13 had risen above the building height, it exploded in flames and smoke as it came crumbling down.

The bird and otter pair hovered in the area as it waited to check for any signs of Nojiko's survival. The smoke getting in it's way, the bird lowered itself closer to the ground to give itself a better view.

Something it really shouldn't have done, "Got you, you stupid bird!" Nojiko yelled as she jumped out of the smoke and caught the vulture in a pistol whip with her revolver sending the vulture crashing to the ground below, seeing stars.

Miss Friday scrambled off Mister 13's back and grabbed for the bombs that it had on it's persons, but stopped when a shadow loomed over it. It turned it's head and it's show dropped slightly as Miss Doublefinger stood there, looking down at it, a calm smile on her face, "I believe it's time I returned the favour for that whole dropping a bomb on me, shouldn't I?" She said before delivering a kick to the otter. She watched the otter roll down the street for a moment before releasing a sigh, "That felt rather good. And you're not half bad girly...but the Unluckies aren't really that tough." She said as she turned to look at Nojiko, who had her revolver pointed at her. She rolled her eyes and raised her hands, "I'm not going to fight you, girl. I'm too weak for that and I still can't really control my body, what with it, spazzing and everything."

"Uhuh..." Nojiko muttered before motioning with her gun for Miss Doublefinger to start walking in the direction of the palace, "Alright, we're going to find my sister, and like I said before, you're going to tell me whatever you know about this whole thing."

Miss Doublefinger did what was asked of her (at gun point no less) and started walking, "Well, it all started a couple of hours ago..."

XxX

(With Gin)

"Die, rebel scum!"

Gin batted away the Alabastan soldiers attack with the rather strange looking halberd he wielded with one of his tonfas before kicking him away and straight into a wall where he slumped onto the ground, knocked out cold, "I'm a pirate. Not a rebel." The dark haired pirate said as he continued to make his way down the street, leaving behind him a trail of injured, but mercifully, not dead loyalist soldiers.

Although he had been separated from the others due to the cannon fire that had been put on them, he figured that if he made his way towards the palace, sooner or later, he will run into someone, perhaps someone on the Straw Hats or even his own companions.

Companions? Huh, did he think of Uzumaki and the rest of them as companions? If so, that was certainly a surprise.

He didn't mean at all to get attached to them, but it seemed he had.

For some strange reason, although he didn't particularly need to or have any lingering obligation to, he had involved himself in this entire debacle. He could have simply said no and left, damn the Marines in Nanohana and that had chased the Straw Hats all the way to Rainbase.

Perhaps, unlike Krieg, doing things that actually helped people appealed to him? Rather than doing the opposite where he hurt people.

He laughed to himself as he thought about it, a pirate that preferred to help people instead from stealing from them. What a crazy thing.

Gin abruptly jumped back to avoid a heel kick coming down at him from above, "Woah, man! That's some crazy reflexes you have there!"

The dark haired pirate landed a few feet away. He looked at the man that had attacked him and noticed that he had long unkempt hair with a headband. He wore a half-shirt, open to reveal a bare chest, finishing off his attire with pants that were decorated with stars and a belt keeping them apart.

He was barefoot.

Gin cast him a look, "And you are?"

The man clicked his fingers together and pointed them at Gin like a gun, "The totally rad, Mister 10 at your service, my man." His smile had something of a malevolent look about it for a moment, "And the lovely lady behind you is the totally, but no so equally rad, Miss Tuesday."

Gin brought up one of his tonfas to block a side attack from a sword. From behind him, a woman's voice spoke out, "Idiot. I nearly had him and you went and revealed my position."

"I knew you were sneaking up on me either way, so it wouldn't have mattered." Gin told her politely.

He glanced behind him and saw the woman smirk slightly, "I suppose that shouldn't be a surprise from someone called the 'Man-Demon'." Miss Tuesday wore a hood with three antennae like stalks coming out from the top of it. The front of the hood was designed to resemble that of an animal. She wore long pants and a short sleeved shirt and she carried a sword sheath in one hand and the sword itself in another. She pushed her blade against Gin's tonfa but struggled to make him move an inch or even show any form of strain at the force she was applying. Her smirk dropped before jumping back to make some space.

"I don't really feel like fighting," Gin started saying as he slowly spun his tonfas around, glancing at both the agents, the man in front and the woman in the back, "But if you do attack me again, I won't show any mercy."

Mister 10 had a wide smile on his face as he slowly swaggered his way towards him, "Don't be so cocky, my man. It's alright to be scared, after all, we're the terrific duo of Mister 10 and Miss Tuesday!" He launched himself suddenly at Gin, leg outstretched straight forward in Gin's direction, "Ichirosou (Straight Arrow)!"

Gin raised his tonfa to block the powerful kick that had been launched in his direction, Mister 10 showed a pained expression on his face when his kick made contact with the steel tonfa, but before Gin could take advantage of the opening given to him, Miss Tuesday rushed in to attack with a rising slash.

Gin stepped away from the slash and retaliated with a thrust of his tonfa at the frontier agent who used her sheath to try and block the attack but found herself still catching it as the attack broke through her guard, breaking her sheath and catching her in the chest before sending her flying.

Mister 10, having landed on the ground tried to take Gin's legs away from underneath him, but the former first mate of the Krieg Pirates easily dodged the attack before bringing down a powerful strike of his tonfa into the man's chest, caving in his chest.

Mister 10 spit out blood as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Gin rose up and looked around and noticed that Miss Tuesday wasn't moving. He sighed as he resumed making his way towards the palace, "I did warn them."

XxX

(With Naruto)

"How the hell did Crocodile get here ahead of me?" Naruto asked Konohamaru. Confusion was rather plain to see on his face and in the tone of his voice.

Konohamaru shrugged as he tested out his now rehydrated leg, "I have no idea. He looked pretty pissed off though when he appeared."

Although it didn't make any sense, Naruto ignored the fact that Crocodile had somehow been able to beat him to Alubarna despite blowing him in the opposite direction. Although he was somewhat miffed that the man was still alive, "I should have used a Senjutsu to finish of that bastard." He grumbled to himself.

Luffy wouldn't have been all that happy with him, but Naruto couldn't really find it in him to care at the moment, especially after seeing what Crocodile had done to Konohamaru and especially Silk. It was a good thing that Konohamaru had been quick to get her out of there and to find some water for her, other wise, things would have been over for the young woman.

The young swordswoman had stopped looking more like a mummy and now was beginning to look more like a human. Colour was slowly returning to her skin, as well fat and form, as she was fed water through a make-shift feeding tube.

Konohamaru looked at Naruto, "So what now, boss? You going to go fight Crocodile?"

Naruto sighed as he shook his head, "No. That's all Luffy. He made that very clear a while back."

The young chunin raised an eyebrow, "Luffy? The guy made mince meat out of me. I couldn't even hit him. Even when I finally thought of a way to beat him, it didn't do much thanks to the fact that he's made of out _fucking _sand. How are you supposed to fight that?" It annoyed him. He was sure that if he was able to get in some good hits, there could have been a chance for him to actually win against Crocodile, but then again, the man could turn into sand, how are you supposed to fight sand?

"Sage Mode apparently." Naruto said as he looked at Silk. He frowned at the sight he had found her in. She had much less colour then, and more difficulty breathing and wheezing more. He needed to step it up somewhat in her training, for now that was a thought for later.

The younger of the two ninjas allowed a chuckle to escape his lips, "Sage Mode? It can never be easy, can it?"

Naruto shook his head, "Apparently not. Wait a second, maybe the Monkey's have someone who can teach you Sage Mode. I'd be surprised if Enma doesn't know about the whole natural energy stuff."

The young Sarutobi thought about it, "…I never really thought about it or asked. And it has never really come up in any sort of conversation. When I get the chance, I'll ask him." He spared a glance in Naruto's direction, "So what now?"

Said ninja rose to his feet, "Now? I find Crocodile and make sure his ass stays down."

"I thought that was going to be Luffy's thing."

"That was before he had messed with one of my nakama." Naruto made to leave the small house that Konohamaru had shacked up in with the recuperating Silk, "Look after Silk." He said before vanising in a swirl of leaves.

Konohamaru had a small smile on his face, "Go get 'em, boss."

* * *

**AN: Seems like the Alabasta arc is going to come to a close next chapter. I'm surprised I've been able to crank out as many chapters as I've heard over the past few days considering everything else. I suppose it's probably because I want to get this arc over and done with.**

**Oh yeah, if anyone is good with Japanese, hit me up. Because until I actually get a chance to learn Japanese before jetting off to said country, I'll be using google translate for some attacks and everything else. So yeah...if you can read japanese and notice my attack names don't make much sense, hit me up and correct me, then I'll very much use you as a living translator.**

**Anyhow, hope you enjoy it.**

**Laters,**

**raidensokwl**


	12. Never Back Down

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece_

* * *

Never Back Down

Usopp took a moment to regard Vivi with an incredulous look, "Let me get this straight," He began calmly, "You're telling me that there's some Baroque Works guys out there, about to fire a bomb in about ten minutes, and you want me to find the shooter?" His voice lost all semblance of calm it had possessed just a few minutes before, "How the hell am I supposed to do that!?"

Vivi clasped her hands together, knowing that it's a rather tall task that she's asking of him, "Please! We only have ten minutes!"

Usopp grumbled as he started thinking about it, moved by his royalty friend, "Since the diameter of the blast is 5km or so, the enemy should at least be 2.5km away."

"No!" Vivi cried out suddenly, "The shooters might very well be near here."

Usopp looked at her with wide eyes, "Why? If they're close to the blast centre, they'll be caught up in it as well."

"Crocodile does seem like that sort of person..." Nami said with a slight scowl on her face.

"Killing his own buddies..." Chopper couldn't believe it that someone would do that to their friends. The remaining Straw Hats immediately began voicing their displeasure for such a tactic.

As they stood amongst the chaos and sandstorm that had been summoned by Crocodile to add to the chaos that was already apparent on the battlefield, one of the agents of Baroque Work's disguised as a soldier tried to attack Vivi from behind, but Zoro and Sanji quickly put an end to that before it could lead to anything.

A quick look around revealed to the rest of the Straw Hats that they had been surrounded by the Baroque Works Billions, "We finally found you, Vivi-hime. Hehe, killing you will get us promotions to become millionaires!"

Sanji bared his teeth as he looked at Zoro, "How long do you plan on taking?"

Zoro returned the look he was receiving from his crewmate, "We have to make every second count." At the same time, they both turned to look at the Billions that surrounded them, "Two seconds." They both declared before assaulting the poor, very unmatched cronies of Baroque Works.

The others took this chance to escape and fan out in search of the bomb. Zoro and Sanji soon joined them because of how weak the opposition that faced them was. It didn't take long for them to clean up.

XxX

(Royal Tomb of Alabasta)

"Hidden stairs." Robin noted as she looked down the flight of stairs that led underground.

Cobra stood some way off her as he led the way, "The 'True History' is down there. Normal people don't even know of it's existence."

Nico Robin began to make her way down the stairs as she spoke, "The world is full of secrets. Even for a king of an important country like you, cannot know everything."

Blood made it's way down Cobra's face from his injuries as he looked at her back, "...Can you understand the 'True History'?"

Robin didn't even glance back when she answered, instead continuing to make her way down the stairs, "Of course. That's why Crocodile can't kill me. He made a deal with me. So the fault isn't yours. You never realised that there is someone who could read it." She stopped for a moment to glance back, a small smile on her face, "There might be some information on 'Pluton' in this 'True History'. Don't you think so?"

The king of Alabasta was quiet for a moment as he looked down at her, "I don't know." He began to follow her down the flight of stairs and continued to speak, "The Alabasta Kingdom has always protected the 'True History'. That's all we ever did."

Robin glanced back, "Protect?" She asked before scoffing, "Don't joke around." They made their way into a large cavernous hall way. Robin took a moment to marvel at the architecture, "Such a large place."

"...The thing is behind those doors."

Robin smiled as she walked to a set of mammoth doors and easily began to open them, "Exactly..." She said as she walked through them.

On one of the larger pillars in the entrance hall, Naruto looked at Cobra as his form disappeared into the next room, 'Should I go after them, or should I go straight for Crocodile?' He had a bone to pick with the man, but then again, this was the king of the country. Saving him might come in handy.

He looked in the direction of the entrance that he had followed Nico Robin and the king through as he sensed a familiar energy fast approaching. He smiled, 'Seems like I don't need to go anywhere, after all.' He slinked off into the shadows of the hall and hid his presence and simply waited.

XxX

(With Nami &amp; Chopper)

Nami and Chopper kept running through Alabasta in search of the bomb. In search of a quick end to their search, Nami looked in Chopper's direction, "Can't you sniff out the bomb?"

Chopper shook his head as he kept up with hair, "The whole town smells like gunpowder." He took another sniff of the air and quirked an eyebrow, "That's weird. I smell something as well, tea, coffee, lemon, tangerines and a bunch of other stuff coming our way."

Nami looked down at him, "What? Who cares about that? Search for a shooter aiming for the centre of the palace or something like that!"

Chopper sweat dropped, "How am I supposed to smell for something like that?" He asked rather exasperatedly.

"Who cares? Just do-." Nami and Chopper had to quickly come to a skidding halt as if they had continued to run, they would have ended up running into two people that had turned onto the street they were running down from a joining street. Nami was about to shout at the person but immediately paled when she saw who it was, "Y-You!" She let out as she quickly scrambled to take out her Clima-Tact.

Miss Doublefinger looked at the frantic Nami and smiled, "Oh look who it is. Funny running into you, so soon."

Chopper looked between the woman who smelled like some sort of café and Nami, blinking in confusion at the way his crewmate was acting, "Nami, what's wrong? Do you know her?"

"Nami?" The other figure repeated in surprise before stepping forward. Nojiko eye's widened in surprise and she smiled widely at seeing it was indeed her little sister, "Nami!" She shouted in recognition.

Nami recognised that voice and immediately looked at the other figure and saw Nojiko in turn. Her eyes widened, "Nojiko! Get away from her, she's dangerous!" She tried to warn her sister away from the woman that had nearly killed her several times over.

"And as weak as a puppy, I should add." Miss Doublefinger added to Nami's statement, "You put me through the ringer. Good for you."

Nojiko came forward and hugged her sister, "Eh, I wouldn't worry about her. Whatever you did to her, she's still feeling it. And anyway, if she tries anything, I would be more than willing to shoot her." She finished off, lazily waving her revolver in the direction of Miss Doublefinger.

Nami sweat dropped at the casual way her sister was talking about shooting someone. Then she remembered why she was running around town, all frantic like. She immediately put eyes on Miss Doublefinger, "Tell me where the bomb is!"

"What bomb?" Both Miss Doublefinger and Nojiko asked.

Nami didn't have time for this, "The bomb that Crocodile plans on firing on the palace!"

Miss Doublefinger shrugged her shoulders, "I have no idea. Crocodile never said anything about a bomb to me or Mr. 1." She noticed the frantic look and desperation that had been oozing of the orange haired teen, "Why are you desperate to save the palace? I doubt there's anybody in there right now. From what I understand, everyone else has been evacuated apart from the soldiers."

"Because the bomb can kill everybody within 5km!" Chopper shouted at her.

Miss Doublefinger's eyes widened. 5km? That included her dammit! She did not appreciate the now second attempt at her life. She sighed, "Crocodile is officially the worst. Boss. Ever." She shook her head ruefully, "Can't complain now anyhow. Might as well help you with this. Listen up children, a bomb that strong can't be placed that far from where it's supposed to set off. Why? Because it would be pretty huge."

"So it's somewhere near the palace?" Chopper asked.

"Probably," Miss Doublefinger said with a shrug of her shoulders, "Somewhere with a clear line of view of the palace or even in the palace itself."

Nojiko gave Miss Doublefinger an appreciative look, "Huh, I knew bringing you along would be a great idea."

XxX

"What about above ground?" Vivi asked Pell who was flying above her.

The man turned falcon shook his head, "I've checked all the roofs and I've found no sign of any bomb."

Vivi grit her teeth as she tried to think, then something came to her, "Then perhaps they're inside the buildings?" With renewed hope she quickly took off down the streets, "Search again!"

Pell pulled off into the skies to resume the search, "Yes, princess!"

XxX

In the hall where the True History was held, Robin traced her finger over a large cube shaped block that held strange writing on it, "Nothing else?" She asked Cobra without looking back at him, "Is this all this country is hiding?"

Cobra was seated some several feet behind her, his arms still held in a lock by the powers of Robin, "Aren't you satisfied? I have satisfied your wish."

"Hmm, so that's the secret?" Crocodile asked as he entered the hall, alerting the others to his presence, "A person ignorant of this place wouldn't be able to so easily find it." He walked up towards the block, a hand in a pocket. He looked a bit scruffed up, as if he had been in a fight recently, "Is this the True History, Nico Robin?"

The cowgirl dressed woman glanced back at her partner in crime. She took in his appearance. It seems as if Straw Hat had put him through his paces, "...That was pretty fast."

Crocodile stopped a few shot ways off as he looked over the block, "Can you read it?"

"Yes."

He smiled, "Then read it out loud. This True History."

Robin was quiet for a bare moment before beginning to read off the block, "Soxilla conquered and built this kingdom, in the year 239. In 269, the Dimar family is the strongest. During the year 306, Arimar completed the Fuda Holy Temple. In 325 Massamdi, the Ordian Hero-."

"Hey, hey, hey." Crocodile suddenly interjected, cutting her off, "Wait, wait. Was _that_ what we were looking for? I don't give a damn about this country's history! I want to know whether there is a hidden weapon here, or not!"

"There is nothing like that." Robin told him, "Only history. The word 'Pluton' isn't even mentioned anywhere here."

Crocodile bared his teeth for a moment as he took that information in. He started pacing to the side slowly, before glancing at Robin with a dark look, "Although we had such a wonderful partnership, I'll kill you right here, right now."

Robin had a look of surprise on her face as she turned to face him, "What?"

Crocodile stopped pacing and slowly turned to face her, "The agreement four years ago. What you said was, 'As long as you take me to the True History, I'll tell you about the weapon.'" He prepared to attack her by bringing his hook back, "After four years in Baroque Works, you were always diligent and dutiful, you were a worthy woman, but you ended up breaking a promise!" He swung at her head and caught her hat at the end of his hook.

Robin was able to slip away from his attack. Her former employer regarded her with an easy look, "But I'm not at all mad at you, Nico Robin. You know why?"

Robin reached for something in her coat, "Heh, fool. I worked for four years with you. I always knew your intentions." She threw a veil in his direction. Crocodile easily evaded the thrown vial by moving to the side, but was surprised when an arm sprouted from shoulder and caught the vial. Robin moved in to attack with a knife, "If I pour water on you, a knife can kill you, right?"

Before she could reach him, Crocodile turned into sand. Robin stopped cold as she looked around for him. Crocodile began to reform himself behind her, a dark smile on his face. He stopped from attacking her when he noticed that there was somebody else in the room. He growled, "Uzumaki..."

Robin took that chance to quickly move away from him as she took several leaps back to make some much needed distance between herself and Crocodile. She glanced at the entrance that led into the tomb and saw Uzumaki himself just idly leaning on one of the doors.

He raised a hand and waved in greeting, a dull look on his face, "Yo." He pointed at Crocodile, "You met two of my crew. You kinda hurt them bad, one more so than the other. Sort of pissed me off. I'm rather angry right now, if you couldn't tell."

Crocodile grinned widely, "It's a shame I didn't kill them. Seeing your face, it would be worth it."

Naruto's dull look darkened somewhat, "If you had done that...well, I think I would have vaporized you of the face of the earth. I can do that. I can do a lot of things." Luffy had made him promise not to fight Crocodile, but the man had made it slightly personal. Luffy could understand right? And anyway, the pirate wasn't anywhere in sight.

It was a flimsy excuse, one that justified as to why he had revealed himself, but he knew the real reason. Crocodile had been about to do something that was a rather pet peeve of Naruto's, back-stabbing his own partners/killing them.

He had already pegged Crocodile as that sort of scum, but seeing it happen in front him? No chance.

And Nico Robin was cool. Sure, she had tried to kill Igaram a while's back, but other than that, she seemed to be pretty alright.

He couldn't just let her die like that.

The tomb suddenly started shaking all of a sudden. Naruto and Crocodile looked around in confusion as loose rubble and dust from the tomb began to fall to the ground, "The cannon shouldn't be ready yet." The Shichibukai noted before noticing that Cobra wasn't restrained anymore, "...Was it you?" He asked as he glared at the king.

King Cobra was seated, leaning against one of the walls. He had a satisfied smile on his face, "Nothing too much. I just pulled away a main pillar. You and I are going to die here, together."

Naruto wanted to take the man by the collar and rattle him till the world spun. Crocodile could turn to sand..._sand._ He doubted burying him underneath some rocks could do jack shit to the man if he just simply turned to sand and made his way above ground.

Crocodile regarded him with an amused look, "Such an exemplar king. Willing to die for your country...but still, I can escape this. I'll just turn the rocks into sand. Less than three minutes lest, with the destruction of this temple, this country will be my land!"

"Right, I caught the word cannon and then a time limit." Naruto said, "What the hell is happening in three minutes?"

Crocodile looked at Naruto and smiled at him, "Oh, you don't know?" He laughed, "In three minutes, a bomb shall go off. A bomb that will destroy the palace and all the rebels and loyalists fighting!"

Naruto nodded his head calmly as he could whilst inside his head, his mind was racing. The palace was a pretty fucking big place and the fighting from the memories of his clones had headed in that direction. If Crocodile planned to destroy the palace, then this bomb was probably going to be bloody big.

'Oh man, that does not sound good.' He quickly made a shadow clone before dispelling it, with that, new instructions being sent to the clones above ground fighting the rebels and loyalists to drop everything and start searching for a cannon or bomb or whatever! "You know what? You are now quickly becoming my least favourite person in the world." Naruto told Crocodile with something akin to a growl in his voice.

"As if I care for how you think of me, Uzumaki." Crocodile replied with a scoff. He smirked, "I think it's about time I finally took care off you."

Naruto cracked some knuckles, "You can-." He stopped speaking when he heard loud footsteps coming from behind him. He turned his head to look behind and sighed, "Dammit Luffy! I was just about to have a show down with him!"

Luffy threw a punch at him as he ran towards the tomb, dodging falling pillars and rocks whilst he did so. Naruto evaded the attack, "You promised Crocodile was mine!" Luffy yelled at Naruto as he neared the tomb.

"I haven't even fought him yet!" Naruto returned as he made space for the incoming Luffy.

Crocodile glared at Luffy as he entered the tomb, "Why are you still alive? Why do you keep coming back every time I kill you?"

"Probably because you're not making sure he's dead?" Naruto offered a piece of advice to the question, "I mean, if he's still breathing and having a heartbeat, he's not dead. At least make sure someone is dead before declaring them dead. Basics."

Crocodile growled at him. He didn't know who was worse, Uzumaki or Straw Hat. Both were annoying and infuriating in their own way, "Why are you here? How many times do I have to kill you before you get the hint?"

Naruto couldn't interject once more, "A person can only die once...just saying." But unfortunately, Naruto knew some guys that had never been told of this particular rule of life.

Luffy stared simply at Crocodile, "You took something away and haven't returned it."

Crocodile cocked his head slightly, "_I _took away? Is it money? Fame? Trust? This country?" He laughed, "I took a lot of things! What do you want me to give back?"

"Country? You say some stupid things."

"I'll have the country eventually." He said, running a hand through his hair, "By the time I got here, the king's country was already gone!"

"If that's true," Luffy rushed Crocodile, "Then that guy should just laugh right in your face!"

Crocodile watched him get close, unperturbed by the incoming pirate, "You came without water? Then you're nothing to me. Not even a threat."

Luffy neared him and jumped with a leg pulled back. His let loose a powerful kick that connected with Crocodile's face that sent him flying. Crocodile had an angry look on his face as he got himself up.

Luffy didn't allow him to catch his breath as he came at him once more, an arm pulled back for a punch, "Crocodile!" The punch connected straight into his face, sending him flying once more.

"Argh..." Crocodile groaned in pain as he tried to get his thoughts together. How was Luffy hitting him without any water at all? "How could you have...?" He then noticed the blood dripping to the floor, "Blood?" He asked, seeing that Luffy's hand was covered in it.

"Blood should stop your sand too, right?" Luffy asked, showing him the blood covered hand.

Crocodile didn't know whether to growl or laugh, but eventually started laughing as he pulled himself up, "First at the palace, now here. I sent you to hell twice, yet here you are. Your stubbornness deserves some form of reward." Luffy shot out a kick aimed at him but Crocodile had the grace to dodge this time, "Seems you want me to finish you off for good this time. Very well, I shall accept you as a dangerous enemy." He said as he revealed a poisonous hook, "This is the last fight, Straw Hat. Let's finish this."

Luffy shot out his hand to punch Crocodile, but the Shichibukai dodged it and went to slash at the extended arm with his poisonous hook. Luffy saw what was about to happen and snapped his arm like a rubber band, forcing Crocodile to miss and hit the ground instead.

The two stared at each other as they panted for breath, as the tomb fell apart around them. Luffy leapt at Crocodile, his arm extended back, "Gomu Gomu no Bullet (Gum-Gum Bullet)!" He shot forward a fast punch but Crocodile had extended a hand forward to catch it.

Realising what would happen if Crocodile caught his hand, Luffy stopped his punch with his own leg. He quickly turned his attack from an aborted punch to a kick that Crocodile dodged before drawing back his hook for an attack.

Luffy spun away as the attack hit the ground once more. He watched as Crocodile's poison eat through solid rock. The two stared at each other, Crocodile with a smirk on his face and Luffy with a determined expression.

A rock fell between them, obscuring their view of each other. Both fighters took that moment to charge at each other. Crocodile was able to land a hit on Luffy with his hook, but was also at the receiving end of a side kick from Luffy.

Cobra watched the fight with an impassive look on his face, 'All the best fighters in the kingdom and Crocodile finished them all. But this boy, just who on earth is he?' He wondered.

Naruto frowned as he saw that Luffy had gotten nicked by the poisonous hook as Crocodile bragged about Luffy not being able to survive the poison that was now in his system, "How long does it take for the poison to effect a human body?" The blonde ninja asked, his question directed towards Robin. He had seen the stuff eat rock, but hopefully, nothing of the same would happen to a human body.

Robin glanced at him as the tomb continued to fall apart around them, "If Straw Hat continues to fight, the poison will spread through out his body even quicker than it normally would."

Naruto sighed, "Thought as much." He rolled his neck in preparation, "Might as well get ready to tag in."

"Gomu Gomu no Gatling (Gum-Gum Gatling Gun)!" Luffy send a storm of punches in the direction of Crocodile, but the man easily dodged as he slipped away.

Crocodile slid to a halt some feet away from Luffy, a smirk on his face as he spoke, "It seems as if you don't understand. You'll die soon from the poison." His smirk widened some more when he saw Luffy stagger where he stood, "It seems your body is finally starting to get numb, Straw Hat. No matter, win or lose, you'll be stuck underneath here. To survive three battles against me, that is a miracle by itself."

Luffy surprised him by lashing out with a stomp of a kick that he moved to the side of to dodge. Crocodile was beside himself. He just simply couldn't understand any of it. Of how things had gone so far south from the full proof plan that he had concocted the day he stepped foot in Alabasta.

"There shouldn't be anything for you here! Why are you doing this for someone else!? What's the point of dying for someone else!?" He shouted at Luffy, "If one or two of your nakama had died, you would not have gotten yourself involved you fool!"

"Like I said, you don't understand." Luffy was on one knee, looking down at the ground, "Vivi, even though she says no to death, she'll bravely throw away her own for others. If you left her that way, she'll die. She'll die because of you guys."

Crocodile sneered, "That's why I said to let those kind of people die without bothering you!" Crocodile laughed when he saw Luffy drop to the ground on both knees, "Look at yourself, you can't even move anymore! This is your end!"

"Luffy!" Naruto shouted above the rumbling of the tomb as it continued to fall apart, "Wanna tag out?" Crocodile continued laughing as Luffy tried to push himself up. Naruto saw the angry and determined expression on the pirate's face and sighed, "I'll take that as a 'no' then!"

"No matter what you do for your useless companions, no matter if you win here today, it's all meaningless if you die at the end! You're a loser Straw Hat." Crocodile ranted, a half sneer on his face as he did so, "I don't care much about amateur pirates. Many worthless pirates like you are already dead."

Crocodile spread out his arms wide, a victorious looking expression on his face, "It's over." He declared. He glanced over at the smiling Naruto, "And you're next Uzumaki."

Naruto's smile grew wide into a smirk, "Just so you know, our so called companions were able to find that bomb and stop it. Today just isn't your day, is it?"

Crocodile glared at Naruto when he realised he didn't feel the tremors of a large explosion or hear one and with the size of the bomb he had made, he would have definitely heard or felt it. He signed as his hands to his side, "It's only common sense that you have a back-up plan for times like this. If the bomb fails to fire at the designated time, then it will simply explode a few seconds after."

Naruto glared at the older pirate, "Kami...I really, _really_ hate you mastermind types. You are so annoying." He got up to his feet and began to quickly make his way to the exit, "Alright Luffy, I'm giving you one chance. One last chance. When I come back, Crocodile better be out of it, or I'm finishing him off myself."

Crocodile laughed when he saw Naruto run for the exit, "You plan on stopping it? You can't stop it! It would have set off before you even reach it! You're not Kizaru!"

Naruto glanced back at him, a smile on his face, "You would think so wouldn't you?" He asked before disappearing in a blur of speed, 'And who the hell is Kizaru?' He wanted to ask, but by then, he had already reached the hidden entrance to the tombs.

XxX

(With The Others)

"This is a timed bomb!" Vivi shouted from the inside of the clock tower where the cannon had been placed, "It will still explode after a while!"

The Straw Hats that included Nojiko and Miss Doublefinger looked up, "What did you say!?" After all the trouble they had to get through just to find it and get Vivi up there, it was still going to explode?

"You're telling me that, stopping the bomb from the beginning was impossible!?" Usopp cried out as he looked up towards the clock tower.

Vivi slammed her fists on the inside of the large cannon, despondent, "We finally stop it, but he still makes sure it goes off!" She cried out, slamming her fists on the cannon several more times, "When will he be satisfied? How long will he laugh at us!?"

On the street below, the others noticed something, "Did you see that?" Sanji asked.

"That damn bird again..." Zoro commented as he looked up at the clock tower. The bird had just come and disappeared. This place was weird.

In the clock tower, Vivi continued to anguish until she heard someone begin to speak behind her, "This place holds a lot of memories. It was the Suna-Suna Clan's secret base..."

She quickly turned around as she recognised the voice and saw a bloodied guardian from her past, "Pell!"

Pell ignored her as he continued to speak, "Really, you were such a noisy child...you gave me a headache almost every single day."

"Pell, listen!" Vivi tried to gain her attention, "It's a time bomb! It's going to explode soon!"

Pell was quiet as he silently remembered the past. After taking a moment or two to reflect, he resumed speaking, "Princess Vivi, listen," He began, getting her attention, "I am very proud to have served the Nefertari family for so long. It's something from the very depths of my heart."

He quickly transformed into his falcon form and grabbed the bomb before flying out of the clock face and high into the sky, 'I am the protecting god of this country.' He thought as he soared ever higher into the sky, 'I will make the enemies of the royal family, vanish into nothing!'

Vivi held back a gasp as the sky was illuminated with a large white flash as the bomb exploded, tears streaming down from her face.

Sanji looked up into the sky were Pell had flown off into as the blast receded and colour returned to the sky, "That bastard..."

"To protect the people of this country," Nami began, speaking softly, "He sacrificed himself."

Usopp noticed something as he looked back at the mass of soldiers that had stopped fighting when the blast had rocked out, "Hey! They can't be serious...!" The other watched in horror as the rebels and loyalists resumed the battle amongst themselves.

Even when Tashigi tried to stop them, they didn't listen. The soldiers had completely lost themselves to the battle at hand.

"Stop...fighting..." Vivi's voice was hoarse but she couldn't bare to see anymore, "Please, everyone, stop fighting! Please stop fighting!" She pleaded as loudly as she could, but the sounds of battle was too loud and her voice wasn't getting.

Nami had tears welling in her eyes, "She tries too hard..." The navigator of the Straw Hat pirates tried to rile the other members of her crew to stop the fighting, by any means necessary. Even if it meant fighting the loyalists and rebels themselves, "Just stop them! Beat them up if you have to!"

Vivi continued to plead from atop the clock tower, "Please, stop fighting everyo-." She suddenly stopped all of a sudden.

She wasn't the only one to stop. The Straw Hats, Nojiko, Miss Doublefinger, even the soldiers stopped fighting. The reason as to why, an overwhelming feeling had come over the area.

The feeling seemed to make everything heavier, they couldn't even move an arm or anything like that lest it feel like the feeling would turn on them and crush them. Vivi tried to speak but found herself being unable to, 'What's going on?'

"Hey..." A voice rang out from the very top of the clock tower. The voice seemed to be heard throughout the whole town, "Can't you hear your princess pleading with you? I mean, she's asking ever so nicely for you to stop fighting, even after trying her damnest to save all your lives."

The stronger willed of the group, Sanji and Zoro were able to crane their necks to the top of the tower. The sun was directly above them, but all they could see was a silhouette. A silhouette of something with nine tails lazily swishing about.

The two thirds of the monster trio immediately remembered something about the whole nine tails thing, 'Naruto?' They both thought.

One of the tails extended down to the ground and it allowed the others to see that it was a glowing golden sort of colour with black markings. Within it's grasp, it held Pell. He didn't look at all that amused, "I did not appreciate that." He said, looking up at the tower as the tail retracted itself back up, "Although I suppose thanks are in order for saving my life."

The overwhelming feeling lessened and people found it easier to breath and move, "No thanks needed. What can I say? I never really liked seeing princess' cry. Now then, Vivi-hime, they've stopped fighting. The rest is up to you. I've got go check up on something." And like that, Naruto disappeared from sight.

Usopp looked around bewildered, "Alright! What the hell was that!?"

Nojiko sighed as she slumped to the ground, "Naruto, was that." She knew Naruto was strong, but strong enough to give off that kind of feeling? It brought shivers to the spine.

Miss Doublefinger's eyes were as wide as saucers, "That was _Uzumaki_? What kind of monster is he?" And what the hell was he doing all the way back here in the Grand Line? Monsters like him should at the very least, be in the second half of the Grand Line.

"The saving princesses kind, by the looks of it." Nami answered for her.

XxX

(Crocodile vs Luffy)

"I will exceed you!" Luffy declared as he kicked Crocodile straight up into the air.

Crocodile hanged in the air, "You will disappear, along with this temple!" He created a large sandstorm in his hand and unleashed it at Luffy, "Sables: Pesado (Sandstorm: Heavy)!" The attack caused a shockwave that rippled throughout the entire tomb, hastening it's destruction.

As more and more rocks and pillars fell, Luffy took in a large amount of air and expanded his body before twisting himself around, the air still inside him. He then blew out the air and launched himself rapidly into the sky at Crocodile, ready to attack him, "Gomu Gomu no Storm (Gum-Gum Storm)!"

Luffy unleashed a flurry of punches as Crocodile retaliated with an attack of four crescent shaped sand blades. Luffy's fists made contact with the blades and broke through them before carrying on with his flurry of punches that pounded in Crocodile.

Luffy never let up his attack as he continued to pound into Crocodile into the ceiling so much that the pressure eventually ended up in him punching the Shichibukai through the tomb ceiling, up through the ground and into the air outside where he sailed through the air making him visible to all those who had noticed him sail into the sky.

Inside the tomb, Luffy just fell to the ground, the toll of the fighting against Crocodile finally weighing in on him.

Cobra looked up in awe, "How? There are so many layers of rock..."

Crocodile had been defeated, but by the looks of it, Cobra didn't think that he would be seeing or revelling in the victory as the tomb continued to fall apart, faster now than it had been before thanks to the added structural damage done by Luffy's attack.

"Hm, I certainly didn't expect to die like this." Nico Robin commented. Her voice was still calm and she still had the same calm expression on her face, but there was something in her voice that showed that she wasn't so entirely accepting of this as she wanted to be.

"Then I suppose today is your lucky day." Naruto called out as golden arms of chakra extended down from the hole that Luffy had created, "But damn Luffy, I didn't know you had it in you." No doubts about it, this kid would go far. He didn't seem to understand the concept of losing.

"See? I told you I would beat him." Luffy then noticed something as he, Cobra and Nico Robin were scooped up by the giant golden arms and pulled through the hole he had made by Naruto, "...Why are you glowing? And orange?"

"I eat too many carrots." Naruto said with a sigh.

Robin sweat-dropped as she heard the answer, "...It doesn't quiet work like that." It was more along the lines that it didn't work like that, 'Uzumaki Naruto...' She noted as she looked at the golden arms that were wrapped around her. Within their embrace, she felt like she could run a marathon, several times over, 'What a strange man.'

She had to admit, it would be interesting to see what sort of impact he would have on the world at large. He was clearly far stronger than she had expected him to be.

And he had come out of literally nowhere.

There was no previous record of him before East Blue.

Utterly random variables like him always had a tendency to go around and impact the world somehow.

Certainly, the future was going to be interesting.

XxX

(Eastern Port City of Damariks)

"Captain Smoker! Captain Hina! Seargeant Tashigi is here!"

Riding on some camels, Tashigi and the Marine detachment that had chased the Straw Hats to Alubarna made their way towards the ship. Hina stood at the front of some Marines that saluted them as they came to a halt, "Tashigi, nice to see you." She said in greeting to the younger woman.

Tashigi got off her camel and made her way towards the ship slowly, "Captain..." She walked past the captain, head down, "Sorry, I'm a bit tired right now. I'm going to head inside and rest." Hina watched her walk by with a quirked eyebrow of interest.

She stopped in front of the gang plank that led onto their ship and looked at the seated Smoker, "Captain Smoker, I'm back."

"Good work." Smoker said by way of greeting, "I've already heard about the Straw Hat group anyway, so no need to report about it."

"Sorry..." Tashigi said quietly in a manner of apology, "Not only did I help the pirates, I even let them escape underneath my own eyes. As a Marine, I should be punished for my actions."

Smoker looked down at her as smoke wafted off his two cigars, "Why apologise? Didn't you think it was justice?"

"No!" The Marine swords woman denied, "It's because I could only do that. Even knowing where the enemy was, I could only do what I was told to do. Knowing the time of the cannon shot, I could only help them from behind. This is not the justice that I know."

"Tashigi," Smoker began as he looked down at his subordinate, "Some people have as much power as I do but are higher ranked than me. It's because they know that if they don't go up in these seas, they can only drown. Go forward or drown. Why did you join the Marines?"

Tashigi made her way up the gang plank before walking past her commanding officer, "Sorry, I want to rest."

Smoker removed the two cigars from his mouth, "Stupid. Do something about it other than crying. Try getting stronger for example."

Tears were streaming down Tashigi's face before speaking, "I will!"

After making her promise, Smoker received a call from HQ, "_Captain Smoker_?" A voice asked from the other side.

"Speaking, what is it?"

"_In regards to your capture of Crocodile, you and Tashigi shall both be rewarded with medals."_

Smoker looked at the DenDen Mushi in surprise, "Wait, what? We didn't defeat Crocodile."

The Marine on the other side continued speaking, ignoring the questions of the chain smoking Marine, "_Also, your rank will be raised by one. Therefore..."_

Smoker cut the speaker off as he yelled into the microphone, "Enough! The ones who beat Crocodile and B.W. were the Straw Hats!"

Hina walked up the gang plank towards him, "It's useless Smoker. The government already decided to cover up this whole thing."

"She's right you know."

Smoker and Hina immediately looked towards the mast of the ship and so someone leaning against it. Smoker growled, "Who are you?"

The man who had spoken was quite tall and had dull blue, shoulder length hair and golden eyes and pale skin. He had a scar across his right cheek. He wore a blue Marine's shirt underneath the standard Marine coat that had a blue hood attached to it, dark blue jeans and black boots.

The individual looked up into the sky as he pulled out a cigarette and a distinct looking lighter. It was an ornate snake themed lighter, "Man, the desert sun doesn't really go well with someone of my complexion." He muttered as he brought the cigarette to his mouth and flicked the lighter. He stopped as he looked at Smoker and Hina, "Oh, you don't mind if I smoke do you?"

"By all means, go ahead. Smoker-kun seems to think it's alright to smoke two cigars at once. What harm could one do?" Hina said before smiling, "Captain Log 'The Eraser'."

Log lit up his cigarette and took in a drag before exhaling some smoke, "I'm surprised you've heard of me. I'm not normally active in this part of the Grand Line."

Smoker glanced at Hina, "You know him?"

The female Marine gave a terse nod of the head, "Unlike you, Smokey-kun, I keep track of what's happening back in HQ. He's one of the Marine HQ's rising stars. Young but strong as well. Good enough to be assigned to Marine HQ and a captain despite being active for no more than three years now."

The cigar-chomping Marine snorted, "Is that all?"

Log pushed himself easily off the ship's mast and made his way towards the two other captains. Well captain and commodore now, "As to why the World Government thought to reward you, it's all rather simple. What do you think people will think off of our mighty leaders if they find out that one of their specially appointed Shichibukai was defeated by pirates, especially whilst he was in the midst of a coup d'etat of one of the W.G's founding country's? Nothing good I suspect."

Hina placed a hand on her hip, "And why are _you_ here, exactly Log-san?"

Log regarded her will a cool smile as he began to make his way of the ship, "I'm called the _Eraser_ for a reason, Hina-san."

Smoker watched him leave, "...The Straw Hats?"

"Perhaps." He left with a lazy wave over the shoulder, "Later."

XxX

(Alubarna – Some Days Later)

Naruto walked through the halls of the Alubarna Royal Palace at a sedated pace. He had a meeting with the king. Saying it was nothing too serious would have been an outright lie.

It was serious. Naruto was going to pick King Cobra's brain of everything he knew of the World Government and how it worked. Apparently, Alabasta was pretty important when it came to the World Government and the history of the world.

He would admit, he was relatively surprised when he learned that the desert country had been one of the original twenty founders of the World Government back in the day, but unlike the other royal families, the Nefertaris remained in Alabasta instead of going to Mariejois and setting up the world.

Vivi had been nice enough to give him a simple run down of the Alabasta's history, but some of the places she had told him completely and utterly flew past him. He didn't know these places or why they were important.

He had made a mental note to make sure that in the future, when it did crop up, he knew these places and why they were important. Who knew what sort of value knowledge in them would bring him?

When he reached the king's chambers he noticed that apart from the standard two guards at duty, Pell was there as well. He seemed to have the look of a man that had been waiting for him.

When the Falcon-man had noticed Naruto approach, he turned to face him and began to make his way towards him, "Naruto-san." He said in greeting.

"Seriously, just call me Naruto." Honorifics were something that did not compute with Naruto. It was just 'Naruto' no –san, no –dono, no –sama, no nothing...except -kun. Cause Hinata had been calling him 'Naruto-kun' for years and he didn't mind. Nojiko as well, but that was fairly recent, "What's up? What can I do for you, Pell?"

"Once again, I cannot thank you enough for saving me from the blast." Pell told him with a slight bow before standing up straight, "I know you have a meeting with the king right now, but perhaps later, there is something I wish to discuss with you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow before shrugging, "Sure. You know where to find me anyway."

Pell nodded before moving past him with a slight nod for a goodbye.

Naruto made his way towards the king's chambers and one of the guards stepped forward and opened the door for him. When he entered, Naruto was rather surprised by the extent of the bareness of the room, especially for a king.

Cobra seemed to have read his mind or something of the likes when he spoke up, "I sold much of my valuables to help feed the people." He allowed a small laugh to escape his lips, "I've sold more now to help with the rebuilding of Alubarna."

A king that actually cared for the people he ruled over. Those type of kings were rather difficult to come across. Naruto could see why it had taken Crocodile so long to sully his name.

"How are your injuries?" The blonde asked as Cobra directed him to a seat.

The king had several bandages tied around his head and had a stiffness about him as he moved his arms, "Could very well be worse, but not enough to stop me from doing my duties. So what I can help you with Naruto-san? I doubted you asked for this audience out of a whim."

"Well to be honest, and I would completely understand if you didn't want to talk about it because of loyalties and everything, but I was wondering if you can tell me anything about the World Government."

Cobra raised an eyebrow as his demeanour got slightly more serious, "The World Government?"

Naruto nodded, "The World Government. How they work, anything like that."

"Why would you want to know that?" He asked before his eyes widened slightly, "By any chance Naruto-san, are you of the Revolutionary Army?"

"The what-what now?"

"I'll take that as a 'no' then."

"Yeah, definitely no." He tapped at his forehead protector, "I'm not from around here. I'm from a place called Konoha, which is way, way out of the way. My boss and several other people sort of commissioned me on a mission to explore and learn about the world."

Cobra relaxed into his seat. He wouldn't have minded if Naruto was of the Revolutionary Army, especially after what he and the Straw Hats had done for this country, "Can't say I've heard of Konoha. Where is it exactly?" He was rather curious.

"The back-end of East Blue. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't know about it. Apparently, the only ones who do are merchants who are willing to make the journey to trade there."

That seemed to get the king's gears running as he leaned forward, "You're from the Final Continent?" He shook his head in amusement, "Amazing. Never thought I would ever meet a person from that place in my life."

"We call the place the Elemental Continent, but Final Continent isn't so bad sounding." Naruto leaned into his chair and relaxed, "So you've heard of it?"

"I've been told stories about it from my father. And for him, his own father and on and on, it goes."

Naruto didn't like the sound of that. The way Cobra spoke was like that people knew that the Elemental Continent had already been discovered and that the rest of the world knew about it. But from what he had learned from the mission scroll and from the merchants, trade from the rest of the world to back home had only started recently.

...What the hell was going on?

"That's weird. The merchant that brought me to East Blue made it sound as if it had only been discovered recently." Naruto voiced his confusion.

Cobra blinked, "Is that so?" He rubbed at his chin in thought as to why that might be, "I can't really say I'm surprised. My father also told me that your home was filled with people of fantastical abilities, some almost ludicrous and fantastical. It wouldn't surprise me if the World Government had made an effort to make sure that it remained a place that existed in the realm of stories."

Naruto didn't like the implications as to why they had suddenly stopped caring about keeping the continent a children's story. Something must have changed. He sighed, "So, the World Government, how did this whole thing start?"

"For that, Naruto-san, we have to start seven hundred years ago..."

XxX

With a sigh, Naruto finished the last of his second report. As he began to roll up the scroll, he hoped that none of the kages would freak out with what he had learned. Especially A.

He sensed someone approach him and recognised from the foot steps that it was Pell, "Oh, did I forget about our meeting? Sorry about that. I had a lot on my mind." Thoughts that went back to home.

Naruto had decided to write his report outside, underneath the warm Alabastan sun. It also helped that the sun kept his tan up, his skin tone did just not come naturally. It needed constant maintenance.

Pell held up a hand as he stopped a few ways short of him, "It's fine." He noticed the scroll and...toad? Yeah, toad that was taking shelter from the sun underneath the shadow Naruto cast, "Whatever you spoke with the king about must have ben of great importance." Why was the toad wearing goggles?

Naruto gave the scroll to the toad that let out a small croak before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Pell watched on impassively as the smoke cleared. Naruto was impressed, most people would have made some sort of reaction, "So what did you want to speak about?" He asked.

Pell cleared his throat, "If you would allow it, I would like to join your crew."

Naruto blinked. Well, he had certainly not been expecting that, "Why? I mean, you're a royal guard and everything." It sort of looked like a massive jump down from elite royal guard of a royal family to crew on a ship sailing the seas.

The Falcon-man clenched and unclenched a fist as his eyes looked straight on at Naruto, "I'm weak." He said bluntly, "The Falcon is the guardian spirit of Alabasta and it's royal family, yet I could do nothing as Crocodile and Baroque Works destroyed this country. I do not deserve the title of Alabasta's strongest warrior, especially when I can't even protect Alabasta and it's people. If only I had been stronger, none of this would have happened. So many lives would not have been lost due to Crocodile's manipulations."

He was genuine and he had the eyes of someone who had made his mind up, "Fine." Naruto said with a sigh, "Do as you wish. But does the king know?"

"He's known of my intentions for a while now." Pell said with a small smile on his face, "He wishes me the best of luck. I believe his words were that there would always be a place for me when I return."

"You do realise I have a bounty right? That might cause some problems in the future." Especially if Pell got himself a bounty from just associating with him. The guard was pretty powerful, it would be weird if he didn't get a bounty sooner or later if they ended up clashing with the Marines or generating some infamy one way or another.

"But that's in the future, is it not?"

Naruto grinned, "Well, welcome aboard then, Pell. We'll be leaving soon, so you might want to finish up whatever loose ends you have." Pell nodded before turning and leaving Naruto all alone once more. He didn't stay alone for long though as Nojiko approached him rather meekly, "What's wrong with you?" He asked when she got into earshot.

The blue haired navigator laughed weakly, "Naruto-kun...we might have a small problem."

He cocked his head in return, "And what's the problem?"

Nojiko decided to be out straight with it, "Valentine. She's gone." The former Baroque Works agent had made herself scarce when they had been split up in their approach to Alubarna. She had searched high and low for her, but if the woman was any kind of smart, she would have made herself scatter from the whole thing.

"Oh yeah, I know."

Nojiko's jaw dropped, "W-What?"

Naruto blinked as he regarded their navigator, "Yeah, I know she's gone. She's been gone for a while now." He said slowly, "It's not like we need to keep her around anymore. Crocodile is gone. Baroque Works is gone. She can do whatever she wants."

"Oh," Nojiko let out before an angry look started to come across her features. She crossed her arms sternly at Naruto and glared at him, "You're telling me that I've been pulling my hair out these past few days for nothing? You could at least have told me that you didn't particularly care about her!"

Naruto only took in one thing from what Nojiko had said, "Your hairs looks perfectly fine Noji-chan. It doesn't look like it's been pulled out even one bit." He backed away a bit when he saw the look that Nojiko was giving him. He raised up his hands to try and calm her down, "Alright, alright, jokes aside. We only took Miss Valentine with us because she could have told that Crocodile guy about us, but that's a moot point now. And anyway, we got an even better one now, don't we?"

This time, it was Nojiko's turn to look confused. She raised on delicate eyebrow as she looked at the blonde not-a-pirate-but-a-ninja-instead, "What are you talking about?"

Naruto grinned as he clicked his fingers and pointed them at Nojiko, "Miss Doublefinger, or Paula as she likes being called now. I mean, considering that Miss Valentine was partnered with Mr. 5, Miss Doublefinger was partnered with Mr. 1, so that must mean something, right?"

"Oh god," She groaned, "She's joining us?"

The ninja immediately began nodding his head rather vigorously, "Yeah. She's cool. And she knows how to cook. None of us know how to cook."

"You're right. We do need a cook. Travelling the seas without one is rather stupid." She said, blinking in realisation. She placed a hand on a hip as she leaned on leg to the side, "I'm surprised we've been able to go this long without any one of us getting scurvy or anything like that. Wow, I can't believe I'm saying this, but good work Naruto-kun, you're finally acting like a captain."

"Ha! I've always been acting like a captain, you just hadn't seen me in my zone." He went quiet for a moment before speaking up again, "Oh yeah, Pell is coming along as well."

"Pell?" Nojiko repeated. Did he mean the guard that could transform into a bird? Nojiko's appreciation of Naruto being all responsible like immediately left her, "Really? _Pell?_ Why would you do that?"

"What's wrong with Pell? He's cool! He can transform into a falcon! I cannot stress enough how cool and awesome that is! He can fly as well! Think about all the scouting he could do!"

If he wasn't seeing the problem right now, he was definitely going to be seeing it _and_ feeling it when they were back on their ship. Naruto was the captain, therefore the entire thing wasn't her problem, as long as it didn't make things to uncomfortable, "Well, you are the captain. Who am I to question your decisions? Anyway, when do we set sail?"

Naruto regarded Nojiko with a look, still confused as to why her sudden upshoot in respect for his operational planning capabilities were suddenly shot down once more, "Is the Log Pose set?" He got a nod from Nojiko for his troubles, "Then why don't we leave tomorrow morning? I like Alabasta and everything, but seriously, I think I'm starting to peel from all this sun. I _was_ not made for the desert."

"Tomorrow it is then." Nojiko said as she turned around and began to walk back towards the palace, "I'll tell the others. Try not to get into a fight until then. Alubarna is already damaged enough as it is."

"You know I can't make a promise like that Noji-chan!" Naruto shouted after her."

XxX

Sitting in the shade of a café, Log rubbed sunscreen onto his skin to protect himself from the desert sun. He was not going to be walking around all red and raw from being sunburnt, "_What do you mean you aren't continuing with the mission?"_ An authoritative voice asked from the other side of a Denden Mushi.

"There's no point." Log replied calmly as he continued applying sunscreen, "The entire city by now knows what has happened. Pretty soon, the entire country as well. There's a limit to my abilities, Kong-san."

Silence came from the other side of the line before words came through, "_Then I suppose we'll have to hope that the world accepts our version of events then."_ The moment that news had reached Marine HQ and Mariejois, the full power of the World Government had been brought to force to make sure that all the newspapers reported what the World Government wanted the world to know.

As far as anyone not from Alabasta was concerned, the recently made Commodore Smoker and Ensign Tashigi had been responsible for the downfall and destruction of Crocodile's operation as he went rogue.

Of course, enough slander had been also added against Crocodile, many of them lies, perhaps with some truth to them, that no-one would really question as to why he had been made a Shichibukai in the first place.

"_Apart from that, is there _any _other reason as to why you don't want to continue with the mission?"_ Kong asked from the other side of the line.

Log looked over his arm and saw it glisten slightly in the desert sun from the sun screen, "There's some pretty powerful people hanging around the king and princess. I'd prefer not to fight any of them." Especially one of them. That was a fight that would end in only one way.

He wasn't ready for that yet.

But he supposed his...father would like to hear about this, even if he already hadn't. Knowing him, surely he would have already had about this maybe even before Marine HQ had heard about it.

If it wasn't for the fact that he had several special abilities about him, he would have been discovered sooner rather than later. The only way for him to be discovered is if Uzumaki Naruto looked right at him, and even then, it was all up to the gods of chance and luck to see if he could make the connection.

An annoyed sound came from the Denden Mushi, "_Fine. Cancel the mission. Make your way back to Marineford and await further orders."_

"Understood, sir." The line went dead as he removed the headphones from his ears. Well, it seemed like it was going to be a long journey back to Damariks for him. By now, his ship should be there by the time he returned.

Getting up from his seat, he left a couple of beli for the shake he had just had before beginning to make his way out of the city. It was going to be a long way back.

* * *

**AN: Seems like I'm on something of a roll when it comes to this story. How many updates in how many days? Think I'm making up for the fact I didn't update it for nearly a year or something like before.**

**Well, two new crew members and a special surprise character :O**

**Apart from that, I tried my best to skip the Crocodile/Luffy fight since I never planned on changing that. It's sort of like the moment were Luffy skin's his teeth, tests himself to see whether he's able to go toe-to-toe with the big guns. Well some of them any hows.**

**Anyway, happy readings.**

**raidensokwl**


	13. Having A Blue Old Time

**Right...you know Log? The Marine from the previous chapter? Yeah? Good. Go to the Naruto wikia and search Log (Rogu) You'll love the result. Honest. Anyway, read on for the next chapter and I'm going to admit, I am horrible when it comes to coming up with chapter names. So I apologise in advance for having to read some of the strangest chapter names ever.**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece. They are each owned by their respective owners_

* * *

Having A Blue Old Time

The door to the Hokage's office opened and closed silently. With practiced ease, Kakashi took off the hat of his office and placed it on his desk as he moved to the other side and take his seat. The white haired ninja was dressed in the traditional clothing of someone in his office.

After all, when it came to a meeting with the other kages of the Elemental Nations, it was considered respectful to wear such clothing when meeting them, as a sign of respect among the kage.

He took a moment to level eyes on the rather undistinguishable scroll that was seated on his desk.

Naruto had actually come through when it came to the mission. His report had been far more detailed than his first one, although it was debatable that the first one could even count as some kind of report anyhow.

The World Government.

A political behemoth that was affiliated with roughly over one hundred and seventy countries from all across the world. They had only started with twenty nations, but considering the passage of time from those twenty, he wasn't surprised that they had grown to be such a large and powerful entity they were now.

The name by itself raised a few flags that he would be a fool to ignore. Judging by the name alone, this power viewed itself as the ruler of the world, barring the Elemental Nations themselves of course.

Naruto's report had also contained it's summary history and everything he could learn about them. It was detailed, far more detailed than he had to admit, would give Naruto credit for, but the young ninja seemed to have come through.

His report had been detailed. He had given them a history of the World Government, including it's twenty founding nations among other things. How it operated from the bottom all the way up to the top and even how it handled it's affairs.

Everything had been set up to look all nice and cozy, but Naruto had interjected every now and then and had added his own thoughts. Thoughts that were rather appropriate at times, perhaps not on others. Naruto still had a lot to learn if he wished to become Hokage.

The position required more than strength, it required wisdom as well.

The young ninja still had a lot of wrinkles in his shirt, but hopefully, this mission would more than likely iron them out before Kakashi was ready and willing to step down and pass it over to him.

But until then, he still had a lot more to learn.

Although one of his statement had raised more than a few alarms. Apparently, knowledge of the Elemental Nations had been around for a while now, well, at least among the higher authorities of the World Government and they had actively suppressed any form of knowledge that could have pertained to the continent for centuries.

Yet, that forced isolationist policy on the continent had seemed to come to an end twenty years back and trade was becoming more frequent between the continent and the rest of the world. Although it was nothing more than an inkling, Kakashi couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with the group of pirates Jiraiya and Minato-sensei had come across roughly around the same time years ago.

It was a little...suspicious to say the least.

The other kages had come to an agreement that for now, they should sit back and watch. Perhaps in the future, when they need to learn more, or make contact, they'll act appropriately.

Until then, Kakashi hoped Naruto wouldn't cause any more trouble or bring any unwanted light on them. But he doubted that would happen, his old student had a knack for finding himself in trouble.

The universe seemed to like screwing with him like that.

XxX

"...Is that really your ship?" Vivi asked as she looked on at the...peculiar ship in front of her. And that was her being rather nice. After all, as a princess, she really couldn't go around making people think that she could ever get angry.

Standing beside her, Naruto vigorously shook his head in confirmation, "I know right! Isn't she a beauty?"

Aboard the ship, clones of Naruto and Konohamaru could be seen moving things deeper into the hold for storage. Despite the state Crocodile had left his country in, King Cobra wasn't about to let Naruto or Luffy and their friends leave Alabasta empty handed. He wanted to give them something as a thank you for their gratitude.

In their case, it was more supplies and a little more money that could never hurt any one.

With all of her time spend with the Straw Hats, Vivi had met some peculiar people and some even more peculiar ships. The Straw Hats very own Going Merry was very peculiar by itself, but this one took the cake, "It's orange." She stated bluntly. Even the sails were orange.

Could it not have been eye catching enough?

"I _know_, silly. I'm the one who painted it." Naruto replied as he idly crossed a leg over the other, along with his arms across his chest, "But don't forget the black. The tiger stripes. They make it even cooler."

Pell was now more than likely revising his previous statement and declaration of wanting to come with Naruto and company after seeing their mode of transport, "Aren't ninjas supposed to skulk in the dark? Be inconspicuous? This is not even anywhere near inconspicuous." All of the books he had read that had spoken of the mysterious warriors of the night had something about them hiding in plain sight and not attracting attention.

Uzumaki Naruto could not be trying any harder to attract even more attention.

The blonde ninja glanced at the newest crew member, "What sort of dumbass ninjas have you read about? And you know what ninjas are?" Silk didn't have any idea what a ninja was when they had first met.

The falcon man continued to look over the ship as he replied to the question, "I've heard tales about ninjas, most from Wano Country in the New World though."

New World? Wano Country? Well, it seemed as if there was even more stuff that Naruto was going to be learning very soon, "Oh right, befor we go, you have everything you need?"

"Of course. I came prepared for this journey."

"Good, because there's something I need to give your princess." The blonde replied before quickly jumping onto his ship and disappearing below deck.

Vivi looked at the ship before looking back at her childhood guardian, "Pell, are you really sure about this?"

Chaka stood just off Vivi and also shared the princess' concern, "I respect Uzumaki-san, but he seems just a little bit...off."

"The Straw Hats were off." The Alabastan royal guard deadpanned. All of the Straw Hats seemed to have one particular quirk after another. He shook his head as he calmly crossed his hands over his chest, "Chaka, you know how it felt as Crocodile went around doing as he pleased, with none of us having the power to stop him." It had even gotten to the point that the princess had to put join Baroque Works and put herself in danger just for them to actually have a shot at him. What sort of guard allowed his charge to put themselves into danger like that? Not a very good one, "I feel that I could-_can _get stronger to protect not just the royal family, but Alabasta as well if I go with them."

The Grand Line was filled with dangerous and powerful people. That was a fact that he had come to know after having lived here for so long. But this was still the early parts of the Grand Line. It was very rare to come across pirates that were as powerful as Uzumaki or Straw Hat Luffy or even that of Crocodile.

But it was common knowledge that the further up the Grand Line you went, the harder and more difficult the foes became. If Pell proved himself able to defeat them, perhaps even go as far as the New World, then he could rest easy with the knowledge that when he returned to Alabasta, there was nothing that could harm the people there until the end of his days.

It would also give him a chance to eventually pass on his knowledge and experiences to future guardians of Alabasta as well. After all, there was no point in him getting strong and allowing the country to fall to ruin after his death.

Chaka looked at his long time partner before giving a slow nod of the head, "I can see you are going to follow through this no matter what. Good luck my friend. Try not to get yourself killed."

Pell had a small smile on his face, "I'll leave the protection of Cobra-sama and Vivi-hime in yours and Igaram-san's hands."

A comfortable silence enveloped the trio of Alabastan's that also included Vivi's constant companion in the form of the duck Carue. It was eventually broken by the sound of Naruto's sandaled feet hitting the sand beneath him as he had jumped off the ship to solid ground.

He made his way towards them with a very pleased expression on his face, "Here." He said as he held out a hand, holding something within it's grasp.

Vivi looked at the object that Naruto was offering her. It looked like some kind of blade. A very strange looking one with three prongs and some sort of writing on it's ringed handle. She took it and examined it, "What is this?" She asked before taking a testing swing. How was someone supposed to use this? It seemed heavier than a blade it's size should have been.

"A special kunai from back home." Naruto said, "Throw it."

The royal princess of Alabasta looked at her blonde ninja friend, "Throw it?" She repeated.

The ninja nodded, pointing into the distance, "Throw it as far as you can somewhere over there. Trust me, I'll show you something really cool and why I'm giving you it."

The blue haired princess looked at the strange blade, a 'kunai' as Naruto had called it before shrugging her slender shoulders. She turned and hurled the kunai as far as she could into the distance. The kunai flew through the air in an arc before descending to the ground and striking the sand with it's blae first.

Vivi turned to face Naruto, "I've thrown it, now what?"

Naruto grinned, "This." Vivi and the others waited before to their surprise, they noticed that the space around Naruto seemed to slowly bend before he vanished in a flash of yellow, leaving behind a crack of air as air rushed in to fill the void that Naruto had just suddenly vacated.

His sudden disappearance more than startled just Vivi, Pell and Chaka, "Quack!" Carue exclaimed as the duck looked around in surprise, searching for the disappeared blonde that was rather cool in it's books. Especially with the nature-like aura he seemed to exude every time.

"Naruto-san?" Vivi asked as she looked around for the disappeared blonde.

"Over here!"

They turned to look in the direction of where the blonde's voice had come from and Vivi was more than pleasantly surprised to find that he was standing just a little ways off from where she had thrown that strange weapon that he had given her. Naruto quickly picked up the kunai before vanishing from sight once more and appearing in front of them.

Vivi nearly jumped back from his sudden re-appearance in front of her like it was nothing, "What was that?" She asked. She didn't have a clue as to what had just happened.

Naruto passed her the three pronged kunai into her grasp once more, "The first time was me teleporting to that kunai. It sort of serves as a marker, so whenever you throw it, or whenever I can feel it, I can teleport myself to it just like that." He finished with a click of his fingers. He stopped then scowled for a bit, "Of course my dad could do it instantaneously, but I'm starting to get the hang of it, I think, so I just won't appear just like that."

With the kunai in her hand, Vivi looked at it in a whole new light, "You can teleport to this thing?"

"Pretty much yeah."

"That's...That's unbelievable." Genuine teleportation? She had only read about such things in stories and films. She looked at Naruto in a whole new light. First it was with whatever he had done to stop the fighting back in Alubarna and now this, just what was he capable of?

Naruto's chest swelled at the praise that he was being showered with. Of course it was always a good thing to have people constantly wondering what was believable and what wasn't especially when he was the one doing it, "Why, thank you. Of course I can do a whole lot of cooler tricks." Although he was sure that he would have some difficulty in finding something cooler than teleporting in his personal armoury, "I'm giving you that in case you ever feel like calling in the cavalry if something big is happening all over again. That, and if you feel the need to talk to this guy, I can bring him over." He finished as he indicated towards Pell.

The princess and Pell were close. Who knows how long her long time guardian would be gone? He wasn't about to just let someone she knew from her childhood disappear just like that. He was more than willing to give an avenue of them speaking if he could.

Pell could say that he was touched, truly, but it all seemed rather complicated didn't it? That and he had his reservations about the whole teleporting thing, "You do realise Denden Mushi's exist for a reason right?" It seemed much easier to just call the palace if he felt like speaking to the princess or vice versa.

Naruto looked at Pell with squinted eyes, "...I have no idea what they are." The others nearly face-faulted at that frank admission. How could someone travelling the world not know what Denden Mushis were? It was nearly just down right inconceivable. Naruto saw the expressions the others were giving him and laughed sheepishly with a hand rubbing on the back of his neck, a tick from his childhood, "I'm not exactly from around here...Vivi-hime's father can attest to that. I'm like from the back-end of the back-end of nowhere. Honestly, just travelling is one massive learning experience for me."

"If you say so." Chaka said unsurely. Now he could honestly say that he was more than likely a little worried about his long time partner, more than anything else.

"Boss!" The other turned to look up towards the top deck of the ship and saw Konohamaru waving down at them, "Everything has been packed up, we're ready to leave at any time!"

"Awesome! Be right there." He turned to the group of native people of the country, "Well, I'll leave you guys to say your good byes then. Pell, you can join us anytime when you're ready." He finished before making his way onto the ship to leave the group alone.

Landing on the deck from jumping onto it, Naruto looked around and noticed that everything that needed to be put away had been indeed, put away. It seemed none of his or Konohamaru's clones had slacked off in the slightest. It seems as if the clones weren't really lazy bastards when they felt like it or when they actually had something to do.

"I was told you're the one responsible for the monstrosity that is this ship."

Naruto turned around and saw Miss Doublefinger, no wait that was wrong. He turned around and saw _Paula_ as she now preferred to being called, now that she wasn't a Baroque Works agent anymore, making her way towards him.

He crossed his arms, "Monstrosity?" He repeated underneath his breath, but loud enough to be heard by the approaching assassin, "Why does everyone keep saying something so bad about my ship? It's awesome!"

"It's orange." Paula returned as she came to a stop just in front of him. She looked around the ship, noticing the mast and sails, "It's got orange sails and an orange hull. What exactly made you think this was a good idea?"

"It's orange _with_ black. Not just orange."

"Oh? I hardly noticed."

"Don't make me kick you off my boat. I'm the captain remember."

Paula actually laughed as she eased off the teasing, "Well, I suppose that's true. Strangest captain I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Suppose I should give you some slack since you're taking me with you, despite everything." It had been all rather strange really. If she had stayed in Alabasta, no doubts about it, the Marines would have arrested her and off to Impel Down she would be.

She had heard stories about that place...the most common being that once you went there, there was no coming back.

"Why are you letting me aboard your ship? I tried to kill one of your friends." She asked in all manner of seriousness.

"Let's also not forget helping one kind of bastard bring ruin and death to an entire country." Naruto added.

The former Baroque Works agent sweat dropped as she slowly nodded her head, "That as well, I guess." She hadn't actually been involved in all of that. That was all Crocodile and Miss All-Sunday to be honest. Her and Mr. 1 had mostly been send on assassinations and other missions in other parts of the Grand Line by Crocodile, "So again, why?"

"You asked if you could join the crew. I said 'Sure, why not?' And no-one had really given me a good reason not to take you on." Naruto said in reply to her question, "That and the fact that you also helped the others find the bomb that Crocodile had set up. If it wasn't for you, things could have been far worse than they needed to be." Like thousands of people dead, bad.

"That's it?" Just because of one act of good, she was being allowed to join a crew and be given a chance to escape what some would say was her deserved fate? Despite her friendly demeanour, Paula was not a nice person.

She did not enter the whole assassin game or become one of the top agents of a criminal agents because she was nice. She had killed people, for no more reason because someone had paid her for that person to be dead, nothing less, nothing more. That was it.

She didn't have some sort of over-reaching life philosophy that dictated that she should act in the manner that she did. She just killed because she was good at it, that was it. That, and a single mission earned her more money than she could have earned through conventional means.

"Pretty much." He looked at the older woman with an amused look in his eyes, "I suppose you thought I had some sort of grander reason right? Sorry, but I don't do those things. I'm sure you have done things, but that's all in the past. You can tell me about it if you want, in the future or right now. It might change my perspective about you, but I doubt by not all that much. I don't really know why, but most of my friends are sort of really dark."

Hell, Gaara had been a homicidal sociopath back before Naruto beat some sense into him. Who knew how many people he had killed before then? It was a part of Gaara's past that he didn't like talking about and Naruto never pried. He respected him too much for that and honestly, those experiences made Gaara the way he was now.

Of course with a little help from him.

Paula could only shake her head in amusement, her deep blue curly hair moving with each shake, "Wow, you're just something else, aren't you?"

"Well, it all depends on what you mean 'by something else'. If it's good, then I'm definitely that something else."

The dark blue haired woman smiled at him in amusement, "And if it's not?"

"Then please exit left."

She laughed, "Then no matter how it is, it's a good something else then." Paula peered past Naruto to look behind when he noticed someone new that she hadn't seen before. Actually, she had seen him before, in the briefings Crocodile had given them about Alabasta. It was Pell the Falcon, strongest warrior in Alabasta...much that title would have done for him if he had fought against Miss All-Sunday or/either Crocodile, "Taking aboard someone else on your ship?"

The blonde captain of the ship turned his head and looked behind him and noticed Pell already aboard the ship, taking a look around, "Yeah, he once to come along. Now we've got a guy that can turn himself into a falcon. Cool, right?"

Paula raised an eyebrow as she thought about it. Was it 'though'? Considering her previous affiliates and the relationship that affiliate had with Alabasta. But then again, Pell didn't seem to have recognised her, which was good, which meant he didn't know that she had been involved in the whole drama with his country.

"Yeah, cool." She eventually said. Paula couldn't help but wonder if there was going to be trouble between the two of them in the case that Pell found out about her previous employer. Hopefully not. She was rather eager for this new start that she was being given, eve if she had been joking somewhat at the time.

"So, you ready to go, Pell?" Naruto asked as he looked at the falcon man.

Pell gave him a simple nod of the head for an answer, "Whenever you're ready to leave."

Naruto nodded and quickly created clones to help with the sailing of the ship, before running of to carry out some other tasks of his, leaving Paula alone with Pell. The falcon man showed great composure at not being surprised to see a man randomly multiply himself, much like how Paula was holding up.

"He's a weird one, isn't he?" Paula eventually asked, breaking the ice. She figured since she was going to be travelling, living, and eating with him for god knows only how long, she might as well be friendly with the man, especially since he didn't seem to know about her past.

Pell gave a shrug of his shoulders, "I've seen stranger people." Hell, he had met stranger people. The Straw Hats by themselves were an entirely different sort of strange all by themselves, especially their captain, no matter how grateful he was for what he had done for Alabasta.

Uzumaki and his crew on the other hand seemed positively sane compared to the dynamics of the Straw Hats...even if the man thought that it would be prudent to traverse the seas in a bright orange ship, but this was the man's boat and he could whatever he damned well wanted to do with it.

He looked at Paula and tried to place her. He definitely hadn't seen her with Uzumaki's other crew mates before. Perhaps he had missed her out? "Pell." He simply told her by way of introduction, "I suppose you're my senior as of right now."

The curly haired woman gave Pell a small smile as she held out a hand to shake, "Paula. Most people call me Paula." And she really doubted that he was the senior of the two. It all depended on who had asked first come aboard Naruto's little ship.

Nojiko came from below deck when she had started to feel the ship moving, holding in her hands several maps and the Log Pose. She had been rather busy working out their journey towards the next island that the Pose was pointing in.

When she had come to the deck, she was pleasantly surprised at the sight that awaited her, "Oh good, you two are getting along. Seems like I was worrying for nothing."

The desert warrior from Alabasta cast the blue haired woman, that he counted as the navigator by the items in her hands a quizzical look, "Why would we not get along?"

Nojiko looked at the two as if she was trying to figure something out before her mouth slowly formed an 'o' shape as she realised what was going on. They didn't know who the other was, or more accurately, one party didn't know judging by the look she was getting from Paula.

She laughed it off rather sheepishly as she quickly scurried towards the helm, "Oh nothing. Don't mind me, just keep talking amongst yourself. This has absolutely nothing to do with me."

Pell looked at the back of the retreating navigator, even more confused, "What was that about?" He didn't understand anything about what had just happened.

"Oh nothing. She was probably thinking of something else." Paula said, trying to laugh it off. She quickly changed the subject to something else, "How about I give you a tour? Maybe even find you a room. There's only a couple of us, but there sure is a lot of space." She had already taken one of the rooms for herself the moment that the tour was over and done with.

Pell looked back towards his new companion and gave a small nod, "Very well, lead the way."

Paula gave her own nod of the head before leading the falcon transforming man deeper into the ship.

Naruto caught Paula and Pell go into the hold and was rather happy with himself that the two newest members were quickly seemingly starting to get along with each other. The others had already gotten used to Paula somewhat, all they had left to do was get used to Pell and Paula some more.

Well, they already knew Pell as having seen him walking around the palace back when they were staying in Alubarna. Silk and Konohamaru probably knew him better than the others simply because Silk had taken to training read:- kicking the assess of the Alabasta soldiers as training.

Seeing Silk own the training yard was a reminder to Naruto of how awesome he was as a trainer. He couldn't wait until he was thought fit enough to take his own genin team. Oh, he could see them now, dominating the chunin exams and becoming legends.

But that thought was for later, right now, he was more concentrated in steering the ship up the Sandora and then from there, into the Grand Line and continuing their journey across the world. And on that note, he turned towards Nojiko, "So where is that thing pointing to?" He asked, referring to the Log Pose.

Nojiko perused over her maps as she did some calculations, checking the Log Pose every now and then, "A place called Jaya. And just like many other islands in the Grand Line, I know nothing about it, or what to expect when we come to it."

"Hopefully, not too much trouble." He nearly kicked himself for saying that. By now, he really should have known not to push his luck if he could help it.

"Ah, boss?"

Naruto looked up towards the crow's nest were Konohamaru had seemingly taken root, "What?"

Konohamaru looked between Naruto and Nojiko down below before looking back to the front of the ship, into the distance as to where the Sandora spilled into the Grand Line, "We might have a little problem."

"Little as in how?"

"As in a couple of Marine battleships."

Nojiko's head snapped up towards the younger ninja, "How many?" She dreaded almost to ask.

"Five."

Nojiko's eyebrow twitched as she continued to look up at the ninja, "Konohamaru, a couple is like two or three. Five is not a little."

The dark haired shinobi threw his hands into the air in an exasperated manner, "Fine then, several. Happy, Nojiko-aneue?"

"Much better." She said, but she definitely wasn't happy. Not at all, "What are the Marines still doing here? Luffy and company left ages ago. There's no reason for them to hang around anymore. They should have been gone by now!" She stopped for a moment to take a good look on the two people that she was currently accompanied with and realised that they had bounties on their heads, and that the Marines saw them as pirates, despite the fact that Konohamaru and Naruto denied being such, "Never mind." She grumbled as she palmed her face.

Naruto ignored the grumbling bluenette beside him and looked to the front of the ship, and just as Konohamaru had said, there were five Marine battleships waiting at the mouth of the river, all lined up perfectly to fire their broadsides down the river.

That was not...good. Definitely not good.

"Uzumaki Naruto! You have nowhere to go, surrender and prepare to be boarded!" The command came from one of the Marine ships as they continued to sail up river and nearer towards the mouth of it.

"We're not doing that are we, boss?" Konohamaru asked as he made his way down from the crow's nest. He was preparing himself for a fight.

"Yeah, no. No we are certainly not going to do that." The blonde ninja said in reply.

The sound of footsteps could be heard coming from the inside of the ship as Silk eventually burst through the exit, her sword in hand as she looked around, "What was that?" She asked before noticing the several battleships right in front of their own ship, "Oh, are we going to fight those Marines?"

Silk sounded a bit too eager for Naruto's liking, but then again, when it came to the intrepid young woman, he was constantly learning something new. This blood thirsty side of hers was certainly something that reared it's head every now and then.

"No. Ain't happening. Not really in a fighting mood, to be honest." He said in reply.

Silk looked up towards the helm as she looked at the captain of the ship with a raised eyebrow, "So what are we going to do? I doubt they would be willing to let us pass, even if we ask them nicely. They did go through the whole trouble of setting this entire thing up, after all." It was said that sarcasm was the lowest form of wit, but when in doubt and in trouble, sarcasm was always a good way to get a shot in.

Naruto gave the young woman a dull look. Where was the respect? And wow, did she have a mouth on her, "I'm going to do this instead. Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu)!" After quickly bringing up his hands in the required seal, the entire deck was suddenly filled with a sea of yellow, orange and black. The real Naruto pointed towards the battleships that were quickly getting closer to them, "Clear a path boys!"

A resounding chorus of 'Yosh!' Rang throughout the deck before the clones leaped off the deck and onto the river waters before dashing across the water towards the Marine battleships.

At the first sign of the clones suddenly appearing on the deck, the battleships had already fired their first salvo of cannons, "Incoming!" Nojiko yelled as she saw the cannon balls fly towards them.

"I see them! Noji-chan, take the wheel!" Naruto immediately jumped up towards the mast, holding a hand seal as he did so. When he landed on the crow's nest, he quickly moulded the necessary chakra and released it as a gale of wind that blew towards the incoming cannonballs, "Futon: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!"

The cannonballs suddenly found themselves under greater wind resistance than before, then they slowly slowed down and came to a slow halt before being blown back towards the Marine ships that had fired them in the first place. When they hit the ships, all five of the Marine ships took damage from the resulting explosions.

"I thought you said we weren't fighting!" Konohamaru yelled at Naruto at the top of the crow's nest.

"We're not!"

"Then what the hell was that!?"

"That was just a defensive thing that sort of turned into an offensive thing. I certainly did not mean to do that! How am I supposed to know that my wind jutsu is that powerful!?"

"Maybe because you're one of the strongest people in the world, if not the strongest?" Konohamaru suggested, "Duh!"

Naruto snapped his head down and glared at the younger ninja. Really, sometimes, he never got any respect. Was this how Jiraiya felt when it came to him?

During the little argument between Naruto and Konohamaru, Gin, Pell and Paula had come from below deck to see what the commotion was about. When they arrived on the top deck, they had been graced with the sight of five Marine battleships belching smoke whilst being seemingly boarded by quite a large number of Narutos.

Paula took one look at the entire thing before turning around and heading back inside the ship, "I don't even want to know." By the looks of it, they didn't need anything for her to do and everything seemed to be under control.

Pell watched the entire scene with interest, "So let me get this straight, he can control wind and make solid copies of himself? Let's not forget he can move faster than I can whilst in my falcon form," And that was saying something. In Alabasta, when he was in his falcon form, if he wanted to move, he could move. Even Chaka couldn't keep up with him, "And stronger as well. What sort of Devil Fruit gives you those sort of abilities?" He asked anyone who was willing to ask.

Gin heard him and he could only shrug his shoulders, "I believe you have only seen the tip of the iceberg, Pell-san. I've been with him for a little over two weeks now, yet I still don't know what his true capabilities are." All he knew was that Uzumaki Naruto was someone who would not even fight him seriously if they fought now.

Krieg wouldn't even hold a candle towards him.

And he was certainly a better captain to follow rather than Krieg himself. Hmm, perhaps that was some food for thought. Better he keep that in mind for later, for now, he just watched as Naruto's clones took control of the Marine ships before quickly moving them out of the way of their own ship that was quickly making it's way towards the mouth of the river.

"It's going to be a tight squeeze." Nojiko noted as they came rather danger close to the battleships. The clones had been able to open a gap for their own ship to pass through, but it seemed like it wouldn't be large enough for them to pass through without taking some damage of their own.

Naruto patted the railings of the ship, "She's a tough old bird, she can handle it." He didn't even know how old the ship was. Galley hadn't been forthcoming with that sort of information, due to the fact, well, due to the fact that he had borrowed the ship from the pirate.

The ship shuddered from some impact as it squeezed through the gap the clones had made, making the ones on board steady themselves lest they fall flat on their asses, except for Naruto and Konohamaru who simply stuck themselves to the deck with chakra. A scraping sound could be heard, enough to make them flinch at the sound of it.

Naruto peered over the sides as they passed through the gap and dismayed, "Oh man, my sweet paint job. That took me forever to get it right." Well, it took his clones forever to get it just right. It was certainly going to be a bitch to get them to do it again. Shrugging his shoulders as he'll get to it when he get's to it, he pointed forward into the distance as they quickly sailed away from Alabasta, "Onwards to Jaya!"

XxX

Naruto liked Konohamaru. He actually liked him a lot. The little boy was the first person to look up to him. _Him_, the village pariah that parents told their children to stay away from, yet Konohamaru, despite all of that, no doubt having heard other parents tell their children to stay clear of Naruto had willingly started following him around like a lost puppy.

It was more than likely because of the influence of the Sandaime Hokage, but then again, he could have easily succumbed to peer pressure and followed the rest of the flock in ignoring him, yet he didn't. Him, Moegi and Udon had been quick to follow him and see him as their sort of idol.

Why, he had no idea, but he could probably guess they had seen how awesome he was, even back in the day when he was nothing more than all bark with no bite.

In fact, Konohamaru was byfar one of his most favourite people.

It was a shame that he was ruining that by waking him up at three in the damned morning, "Konohamaru," He began slowly, trying to find the perfect balance of removing enough sleep to function properly whilst at the same time, keeping as much sleep as possible so that when it came back to it, he would fall asleep at the drop of a hat. It was certainly a challenge, "You better have a good reason for waking me up so early in the morning."

"A really good reason, boss." Konohamaru replied, the tone of his voice was also quite serious and the way he stood also showed that he wasn't up just to play about.

Naruto took all of this in and realised perhaps this was more than likely really important and needed his full unbidden attention, "Okay, what is it?" He asked whilst blinking away the sleep.

"It's Silk. I'm worried about her."

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong with her? Does it have anything to do with the whole Crocodile making her a mummy thing?" Once again, he was no doctor, and a doctor had looked Silk over at the palace at the end of everything and had decreed that everything was working perfectly. So what could it be?

Konohamaru shook his head before turning around to lead Naruto somewhere, "I'll tell you as we walk."

"Alright." Naruto said as he stepped out of his room, closing the door behind him. He hid a yawn behind a hand as they began to make their way through the corridors of the ship, "So what's up with Silk, if it has nothing to do with her health."

The younger ninja seemed to try to find the right words on how to say what he wanted to convey before deciding just to go with the blunt answer, "Well, she's acting rather weird."

Naruto thought back to the interactions he had with Silk over the past few days as they sailed for Jaya. He hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary except for a rather strange increase in zeal in her training. Hell, she was starting to look forward to her spars with Gama and him increasing the resistance put upon her body with the seal he placed on her.

...Okay, perhaps that was a bit strange. She had definitely not been that eager when they had first started off this entire thing. In fact, Nojiko was the only one who remained not at all pleased with the training that she was being put under.

"Now that you say that, she has been looking forward to her training..."

Konohamaru eagerly shook his head, "Exactly! Weird! She never looked forward to the training we made her go through! Then there's the fact that she's now training by herself at night. Sometimes, she wakes me up to spar as well!"

Oh yeah, she was doing that as well now wasn't she? The clones that Naruto had left to look after the ship whilst the rest slept had seen the young woman train during the night, going through sword forms or running laps, obstacle courses around the ship.

Well, at least her sword forms had improved massively now that she had a proper tutor who actually knew how to swing a sword in the form of Pell. The bird-man was a god-send when it came to that part of Silk's training.

Naruto doubted that randomly swinging your sword around counted for a sword form, but then again, it had worked enough for him, when he actually cared to use a bladed weapon that was in the form of a sword to begin with.

"Yeah, I'm still not seeing how that's weird." Naruto admitted as he rubbed the back of his head. He just wasn't seeing it to be honest, "You did the same back when you were a kid remember? You always pestered me about training you and all that."

Konohamaru looked away slightly, trying his best to forget those rather embarrassing times of his life, "Well, this is different."

Naruto had an amused smirk on his lips as they made their way towards the top deck, "Alright, if you say so. I'll handle this, you go get some sleep. One of us has to anyway." He said as he waved the younger ninja away.

Konohamaru gave him a nod of the head before turning around and going back to his own room.

He couldn't help but yawn as he walked onto the top deck. The moon was full and the stars were shining brightly in the sky, but still, even in the silver light of the moon, he could see beads of sweat on Silk's skin as she continued to train herself.

"How long has she been going at it?" Naruto asked a passing clone.

The clone glanced in the direction of the female blonde before answering, "Ever since the rest of you guys went to sleep. And speaking of sleep, why the hell are you up? The entire reason we're around is for you to get some sleep!"

Naruto gave his clone a look, "Don't talk to me in that tone." He admonished said clone before dispelling it. Naruto's clones were basically him, and just judging the way they treated him, it seemed as if Naruto didn't have all that much respect for himself.

That was depressing to say the least.

He began to make his way towards Silk, holding back a yawn again. He gave the swordswoman a lazy wave as part of a greeting, "Morning Silk. Why are you still up? Everyone else is asleep."

Silk stopped when she saw Naruto approach her. She pointed at him as she spoke, "You aren't. Your clones aren't."

"That's because Konohamaru woke me up." He told her as he came to a stop just in front of her, "And my clones don't count. They can just come and go."

"Is that so boss? Then you don't mind if we just go then!" One of them shouted before beginning a mass exodus as they all dispelled themselves in short order not long after than little declaration.

Naruto looked around at the now empty deck with a straight face, "...I really do hate my clones sometimes." He needed to have words with them, or himself, about respect sometime in the future. He looked back at Silk, "So yeah, that happened. Again, why are you awake?"

"Training."

"I can see that. But you realise getting some good hours of sleep in also makes you fresh for the next batch of hellish training from your favourite ninja right? I don't want you to over-fatigue yourself like this. It would make the training pointless."

Silk didn't seem to listen to him as she looked at her arms with a slight scowl as she moved her hand about, "Can you add more resistance to my body? I think I'm getting used to the new one."

She was getting used to the recent upgrade to the resistance seal that he had placed on her? That was way to quick. What the hell had she been doing to get used to it so quickly? He had only placed it on her the moment they had put some good distance between themselves and Alabasta, and that was only some days ago.

"That was quick..." To say the least. Naruto looked Silk over some more and noticed that her muscles were more defined than the last time he had seen them. The seal at work by the looks of it, "At the rate you're going, you're going to end up like a body-builder. Like that Miss Monday back in Whiskey Peak. You did see her right?"

Silk did have vague inklings of a woman with the build of a body builder back in Whiskey Peak, but that was a while back and she had been drinking for most of the time she had spent in that town. She looked at her arms and noticed that although slender, there was some definition on her biceps, "Oh wow, I hadn't noticed that." Still didn't change a damn thing about her demand though, "Yeah, I still want an increase on the seals."

This was certainly a first...when it came to a woman who didn't mind looking all burly...Miss Monday aside of course, "Okay, if you don't mind me asking, not that I'm against this new found interest and eagerness towards your training, but before Alabasta, you dreaded this whole thing."

"Because before Alabasta, I didn't turn into a mummy!" She near snapped at Naruto, but her voice had rose some decibels nonetheless to show her ire. She covered her mouth and looked away from Naruto, "...Sorry."

"Oh..." Naruto wanted to slap himself for overlooking the events of Alabasta. Silk had come just short of death's door. That was bound to leave some sort of effect on her. Naruto had been in similar situation, back with the Demon Brothers, but back then he had quickly gotten over it with some effort on his part.

With some help from a kunai.

But he had still gotten over it, and the meeting with Zabuza afterwards had quickly managed to make him kick the fear of death quickly to the curb not long afterwards.

Silk had never been in that situation before. Sure, Galley had made some words, threatened her with this and that, but the man hadn't posed much of a threat, especially with him and Konohamaru around.

Then Crocodile had literally come out of nowhere and had put her closer to death than anyone else had ever done before. And she was feeling it. She was definitely feeling her own mortality. If he allowed this to fester, it would continue to gnaw at her, eventually, it might even get herself killed and he would blame himself for it. Especially for not noticing it sooner.

"So you're scared of dying?" Naruto asked after a moment of silence.

Silk didn't answer for a moment before she slowly started nodding her head, "I am, but the thing is, I don't really care for my life." Then why was she scared? Her answer had sent Naruto on a loop. Silk continued talking, "I'm just scared that if I die now, how am I going to protect the thing that is important to me in the future? I can't really protect it from beyond the grave now can I?" She finished with a hollow laugh.

"Well, I know a couple of guys..." Naruto tried to joke, which seemed to work as Silk let a small chuckle escape from her lips.

"After everything, I can't really say I'm surprised anymore." She had even seen half of the stuff that Naruto could do, but she had already taken it to heart to think that the man could do anything in front of her and take on anyone, despite only being a couple of years older than herself. She wanted to be that strong sometime in the future, maybe not as strong as Naruto, but strong enough that people would think twice when it came to messing with her or her treasure.

"To be honest Silk," Naruto began, "I should have been more careful when it came to Crocodile. But I'm not going to lie to you about the dangers that we're going to face in the future. Apparently, the Grand Line is filled with ridiculously strong people...although I haven't met any of those yet." Except for that one guy he had seen come to Luffy's rescue back in Loguetown...but he didn't count. The man wasn't on the Grand Line.

Silk gave Naruto a dry look, leave it to him to put someone, a Shichibukai no less, into the category of not someone strong enough to worth taking note. She felt herself shivering at the thought of how powerful someone needed to be for Naruto to actually take note of them.

Okay, so Silk's little training thing was a freak out. That had been easy enough to get to, but not the sort of freak out that Naruto was thinking about. She wasn't suddenly coming to terms with her own mortality. No, she was coming to terms that if she died here, so far away from home and the treasure that she wanted to protect, then was everything worth it?

Naruto really couldn't convince her to stay or to leave. This was the sort of decision that she had to make herself. If she decided to stay, then she was willing to brave the dangers that they would no doubtedly face in the future, and if she wanted to leave? He wouldn't hold that against her.

Sure, he would miss the hell out of her. He had come to like the bright young woman, even with her slightly violent tendencies, but that was what made Silk, Silk. He wouldn't change it for the world.

Naruto continued speaking, "What I'm trying to say is, as you are now, I'm pretty sure you can take on anyone in East Blue that can threaten your home town and win. If you want, I can take you back and something like what happened back in Alabasta won't happen again, and I'll be frank, if you stay with me, strong guys like Crocodile, or even stronger will definitely keep turning up and maybe putting your life in danger. So what will it be?"

Silk thought about it. She thought about it long and hard. On one hand, Naruto was right, she _had_ become stronger, and she could defeat opponents on the Grand Line, so that obviously meant she could handle any half assed pirate from East Blue...right?

East Blue was considered the weakest of all the four seas, but then again, she thought of people like Luffy, Naruto, Zoro and Gin. They were from East Blue and they were all ridiculously strong. Hell, she couldn't even touch Gin without getting pummelled in the process.

So what if she could defeat some of them? What would happen when the others she couldn't beat turned up in her village? She wouldn't be able to do a single thing about them.

Silk knew that Naruto would more than likely give her that strange three pronged kunai of his that he could teleport to when he sent her back. He would tell her that whenever she felt like she wanted to talk, or perish the thought, whenever she needed help with handling a situation, she could call upon him and he would come to her rescue in a mighty golden flash.

Like hell she was having any of that. Her treasure was for her to protect, not for Naruto to come out of nowhere and take all the glory for himself.

She crossed her arms resolutely and gave an equal stare at Naruto, "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

A blonde eyebrow was quirked at the sudden attitude that was being directed at the owner of said eyebrow, "What happened to all the panic and fear I was seeing in your eyes just a few moments ago."

Panic and fear? Fuck that. There had been nothing of that in her eyes. Naruto was just screwing with her and she was going to be the mature of the two, even if she was the younger one as well, "You're so lucky I can't kick your ass." Naruto grinned widely but then his grin dropped when he saw Silk suddenly sprout a wide grin of her own, "But then again, who does the cooking around here?"

Naruto's face took on a visage of horror as he realised what was being threatened. The blonde ninja could not cook to save his life or the next one and if Silk cut him off, he was screwed, "You wouldn't." He gasped in horror.

"I would...unless..."

"I'm listening." Naruto was quick to say.

"You increase my training."

He blinked, "Is that all? Well, I was planning on doing that anyway." He looked up into the sky as he ran a hand through his spiky blonde hair. Like he had said, he had already been planning to increase the training of both Silk and Nojiko. He wasn't going to leave one to hang and dry just like that. Then he noticed something about the alignment of stars in the sky, "Hold up, that can't be right."

Silk tilted her head slightly to the side in confusion, before watching panic come full force straight to Naruto's face as he ran towards the helm of the ship, more specifically the steering wheel. Faster than she could see, he had made those strange hand things of his again and clones appeared around the deck, running around like headless chicken.

She made her way through the clones running around the deck doing this and that carefully, making sure that none of them bumped into her. She had seen that even the slightest thing can set them off, "What's wrong?" She asked as she neared the helm were Naruto was busy steering the ship.

"We're going the wrong way." He told her simply, panicking. His eyes darting here and there like he was on the look-out for something, "Noji-chan's so going to kill me in the morning. 'You should have been watching the steering wheel!' She'll yell at me, 'You shouldn't have antagonised your clones!' She'll say. Man, I'm so screwed."

He was taking this far better than he thought he was. He was _panicking_ but he certainly wasn't screaming like a little girl over it, so by that definition, he was certainly taking it better than the alternative.

Silk just watched a man powerful enough to not even be phased with the notion of fighting against a Shichibukai sweating buckets over the fear of annoying a young woman who had only started recently to learn how to fight.

She didn't understand it, but had decided it was one of those things the world did that she would never come to understand. She watched for a couple of more moments before turning around and deciding to go get some sleep. As amusing as watching Naruto give himself a heart attack, she was tired from all that training she had been doing.

Before disappearing into the hold below, she called out to the blonde captain, "Night Naruto!"

She heard the sentiment returned to her, with the panic that she had expected it to come with, "Night! And whatever you do, try not to wake up Nojiko!"

"Will try!" She toyed with the idea of waking up their navigator just for the kicks, but decided against it. Naruto might take that out on her one way or another.

As she disappeared into the holds of the ship, she couldn't help but have a little smile on her face.

* * *

**AN: Not really much of an AN this time, just a quick reminder to check out the Log thing on the Naruto wikia. Trust me, it'll be fun.**


	14. The Town of Mockery

**Review shutouts;**

**DevilBeast: I needed characters, and I rather not create OCs, unless I'm making some OCs for a future arc or something like that. Tbh, whether it's Naruto, One Piece anime, manga, film canon, I'm going to be using characters from all universes one way or another.**

**Rio Skyron: Skypiea is all Luffy.**

**tamagat: Definitely brah. Just wait till the whole Skypeia thing, but that'll be a while from now. Next arc is something of my imagination or perhaps after that.**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece_

* * *

The Town of Mockery

True to his word, Naruto had planned on increasing the training of both Nojiko and Silk to levels so that when push came to shove, the two girls would be able to handle themselves far better than they would ever hope to do. The thing is, this training involved them learning how to use chakra.

That's right. Naruto planned on teaching the two girls how to access their chakra to increase their physical capabilities, maybe even down the line, use a couple of jutsus here and there.

This idea probably wasn't the best idea he would ever come up with, especially if the information on how to use chakra got out to the rest of the world. Hell, what he was doing was what basically the Sage had done hundreds of years back and it had resulted in intermittent or constant warfare back in the Elemental Continent.

Despite the objection of both Kurama and the other bijuu of how this was not a great idea, Naruto felt obligated to at least have the two girls capable of doing this. Unlike the males of the ship and Paula, they did not have any sort of previous fighting experience underneath them.

And anyway, he felt that if he properly explained the dangers of chakra as well as the benefits, he was sure the girls wouldn't be so willy-nilly with the information. He trusted them that much.

Of course, before teaching them how to use their chakra for their own purposes, they had to access it first. Which was proving to be far harder than he thought it would be.

Sitting in front of him in a meditative position was both Nojiko and Silk. The blonde ninja had both the palms of his hands on their backs just to get a keener sense of their chakra flow through the medium of touch, "Alright, that's enough for now. Let's take a break." He said as he removed his hands off their backs and got up.

Silk released a sigh she didn't know she was holding as she slumped to the ground. She had been sitting like that for a good hour and her legs were aching, "Are you sure we even have this chakra stuff?" Beside her, Nojiko was massaging the aches and joints that hurt.

"Pretty sure." Naruto said as he got up to his feet, kicking some life back into his legs, "Everyone has chakra. I can sense it inside you, it's just yours is pretty pathetic to be honest. Even compared to civilians back home. You just have enough to live." He was sure that he had said this before, but it probably had gone over the heads of the girls as it didn't apply to them at the time.

Just enough to live? Well, that was rather sad, but it also brought a few alarms to the pretty blue haired navigator, "You said that to use those 'jutsus' of yours, you use chakra. If we have just enough to live, why would we want to use it?" Especially when he said that the more powerful the jutsu, the more chakra needed to use it. It all seemed rather silly.

Nojiko might have just decided to up and go with Naruto to travel the Grand Line for reasons only knowledgeable to herself, despite all the danger that the Grand Line had a notoriety for having. At least if she died by some freak of nature only known to happen in the Grand Line, she would have been fine with that.

She was not fine dying because Naruto wanted to teach her something that could potentially kill her on the first use.

Naruto sensed where she was going with this and decided to answer her to the best of his abilities. Even more when Silk started to look up at him with expectant eyes, "Chakra works like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. Every person's initial chakra amount varies because of this and that, but it's sort of true that for even a person who hasn't used chakra before, they have enough to probably use a simple jutsu and not land themselves in the hospital, or worse. Of course, some people are born with more chakra than others."

Silk quirked an eyebrow, "How come?"

"Genetics."

It was that simple really. When he had gone to the Academy, there had been a lot of people who had come from non-ninja families, and even then, Naruto thought himself a part of that group since he didn't know anything about his family. By the time it had come to the exams and graduation, the only people that had not dropped out were people that had ninja in their families, or came from clans.

There had been some civilian students who had graduated with him, but in consideration with the original number that he had seen back in his first year of the Academy, it was merely a drop in the bucket.

"So you're telling me that, because of who your parents are, you might have more chakra than another person?" Silk asked.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders as nonchalantly as he could, "Pretty much." It was an ugly truth, but it was a truth of the world that he couldn't really change, even if he didn't like it that much. Sometimes, talent and all that was determined by who your parents were, "You're more likely to have more chakra if one or both of your parents were shinobi as their chakra system would have developed a lot more than that of a civilian. If you come from a ninja clan though, it's pretty standard that your chakra system would be more advanced than the next person." That and the extra training they received from as early as they could walk.

It was said some clans taught their children how to use chakra and fight long before they actually learned how to talk. Extreme? Yes. But considering the dangerous life of shinobi, a little extra training could go a long way and be the difference in a moment between life and death.

Nojiko patted down her jeans as she stood up, "So we shouldn't expect much should we about this whole chakra thing? That's if we can even access it." She looked at Naruto, "Can we even _access_ it?"

Good question, "Honestly? I don't know. Maybe. Silk has a better chance of accessing her chakra than you do, Noji-chan to be honest."

"How come?"

"She's younger." Naruto simply answered in return, "That's one of the reasons we start to learn how to be ninjas so early. How should I say this...consider this. To access your chakra, you have to bypass a door, a very difficult door to open by the way. You have to push as hard you can. And the door was only built the day you were born and has never been opened since or given any sort of maintenance. The longer you leave said door alone, the lock and the hinges start getting rusty and with each passing day, year, it becomes more and more difficult to open it, before one day, it's too late and you can't open it anymore. From what I know, this happens sometime in the late teens or early twenties. It sort of depends on the person."

"So I might never be able to use this chakra?" The blue haired navigator asked, her shoulders dropping slightly, "That sucks." Although she would admit using that chakra stuff to even do some of the things that Naruto could do would be pretty good, she didn't mind not being able to use it. After all, despite that, she was getting better and better when it came to being one hell of a good shot

"Never say never, Noji-chan. You might be able to unlock your chakra, it might just take more time than Silk, or it might even be vice-versa. The whole chakra thing isn't an exact science." If it was, no-one had told him and Naruto didn't particularly care for the details either way.

By now, it had come increasingly obvious to him that he was not the brainiac type. He was more of the perhaps talk you down type and if that doesn't work, proceed to punch you in the face type.

If Silk and Nojiko were able to unlock their chakra, then hooray, they got something that anyone else in this part of the world didn't have that could be the difference between life and death. And if they didn't? Well, he was going to have to make their training quite a bit more difficult than it already was. He wasn't going to have them die on him if he had anything to say about it.

All in all, his expectations weren't at all that high, after all, it had taken him a while to access his chakra. Well in truth, he had been among the first, perhaps even the first of his class (not including the other students that came from shinobi families or clans) to unlock his chakra, but then again, he had a stupid amount of it to begin with, even back when he was a kid.

Whilst giving them there more revamped training schedule, he will have them do the same exercises the teachers at the Academy had the students do to help them when it came to unlocking their chakra. It might certainly help.

"You think this is a good idea, boss?" Konohamaru asked as he made his presence known after Silk and Nojiko had gone inside to take a rest for the moment until they were called upon once more to continue with their training, "I mean, chakra would be pretty nifty for them to have, but it's the sort of thing that has us at an advantage over these World Government guys, even with the freaky powers those Devil Fruits give them."

Naruto sighed. He had those very same thoughts going through his head before he had even decided to teach the girls about chakra. In fact, he still had those thoughts, "I know Konohamaru, but Silk and Nojiko are friends of ours. You trust them, don't you?"

The younger ninja gave the older one a look, "I'm offended that you have to ask that question." Silk and Nojiko were cool in his books. Anyone who was a friend of the boss was a friend of his...except for the bastard Uchiha that was.

Naruto grinned as he ruffled Konohamaru's hair, much to his protest, "Then I'm sure, if it comes down to it, they won't tell anyone about the whole chakra thing. And anyway, if _we_, the guys who actually know about chakra and how it works, are having trouble unlocking it in them, think about how hard it will be for the World Government?"

Well, chakra did seem to be something completely well known in the Elemental Nations, so there was that as well, he supposed, "Point taken." Then he thought of something, "Wait a second, some years ago, didn't you fight some guys that went to Kaze no Kuni and didn't have any idea what chakra was?"

Naruto snapped his head in the direction of Konohamaru with wide eyes as he remembered that particular mission. It had started off being so simple chasing after some damned immortal ferret or something, only to end up some foreign people that used chakra to power their moving warship without even knowing what chakra was.

"Oh fuck." Was the only thing that came out of Naruto's mouth. By the sounds of it, Temujin and company probably came from some country from the rest of the world.

By the end of that particular debacle in Kaze no Kuni, Temujin and his group had left the country in good terms with the ninja that had stopped Haido's invasion. The thing that worried him though was the fact that they seemingly had equipment that could harness chakra to use to power their soldiers.

Despite that, he could see a silver lining in this. That equipment had been used on children that had bigger chakra reserves than the people in the rest of the world, which explained why Haido had gone about kidnapping and destroying villages in Kaze no Kuni.

He doubted that equipment would be all that much useful when it came to anyone not from the Elemental Nations...but still, that was something to think about and tell Kakashi about. Although a question did come to mind as to how people who didn't even know what chakra was, were able to build machines that was able of drawing it out.

"You're going to have nightmares about that aren't you?" Konohamaru asked.

Naruto tried to shake his head but couldn't bring himself to, "You just had to drop it on me like that, didn't you Kono?"

"Someone has to think about these things." The younger ninja said with a shrug of the shoulders.

Naruto rubbed at the bridge of his nose as dark thoughts whirled through his head, "Argh, I'm not going to sleep peacefully for a while now, thanks to you." He wondered how Temujin was doing anyway.

Actually, hold up. Temujin had said that he had come from a continent, problem was, the only other continent in the world apart from the one back home was the Red Line. Was that the continent he was talking about?

Or did he mistake his continent for a particularly large island? The world seemed to be filled with nothing more than islands of varying sizes so it might have been the Red Line or it might not be...well, that was something he probably won't know the answer to and probably won't know ever, so he simply decided to ignore it for now.

"You know, why don't you force the door open?" Konohamaru suddenly said out of the blue.

Naruto blinked as he turned to look at him, "What are you talking about?"

"Silk and Nojiko-aneue." He waved a hand in the direction they had walked off in, "Why don't you just force the 'door' open, as you said. I mean, it could be possible right? Like how a soldier pill gives a boost to someone's chakra, or the Eight Gates...they kind of work like that, don't they?"

"They do...but have too many soldier pills and it's bad for your health and the Eight Gates? Come on, you know better than that. The only reason Lee and Gai-sensei never died from using that particular kinjutsu is because they're freaks." Well, Gai nearly died if Naruto hadn't came in and stabilized the chakra point of his heart, but at the end of it, his shinobi career came to an end as the injuries he sustained by the use of the eighth and final gate were beyond even his or Tsunade's healing abilities.

And he wasn't all that particularly sure about how such things would react to people with as little chakra as Silk and Nojiko had.

"Well, it was a suggestion." He turned to walk away and go back to his own training, "I'm going to go train some more." Something like what happened with Crocodile? He didn't plan on having that happen ever again if he had anything to do with it.

"I'll join you later!" Naruto called out after him. Konohamaru raised a hand in acknowledgement as he jumped to one of the two masts, creating several clones as he did so.

Naruto watched for a moment as the clones began their assault on the original amongst the masts of the ship, Konohamaru's own version of training which was having his clones come at him with intent to kill and whilst he mock fights them. Not a bad way to go about things, but something like that also had it's limits.

Now that was over and done with, with more things running through his head than he would have liked, Naruto wondered what to do now. Nojiko was in charge of navigation and she was only really who knew how long till we will finally be able to get to this Jaya place. He could seek her out, but he was only going to be with her a little later on to continue with hers and Silk's training so that was a moot point.

Then he saw Gin. Actually, he meant to have a talk with the pirate about what his plans were. He didn't mind having the guy on the ship, he was pretty cool in his own way and was an alright guy. Naruto just wanted to know whether he was staying or going when they next made port.

"Naruto-san." Gin said in greeting when he saw the approaching blonde.

"Seriously, just Naruto would do. None of that '-san' stuff." Him and Pell were serious offender when it came to the whole honorifics stuff when it came to him. He didn't like it one bit. It just wasn't him.

When you served underneath a man that demanded that respect be shown to him at all times, it was rather difficult to put aside old habits that had been ingrained into you, "That might be more difficult for me to stop than you would think." The pirate said rather sheepishly.

"Well, you won't know until you try. I mean, apart from you and Pell, no-one treats me with any of that '-san' stuff. I'm not that respectable." If the relationship between him and his clones was anything to go by, "So, I'm just going to cut to the chase. You staying with us when we reach Jaya or will you be finally going off on your own?" It was best to come out with it rather than just beat round the bush.

If it hadn't been for the whole Baroque Works thing, Gin would have gone off on his own back in Alabasta, but even when everything had died down, the Marine presence made it rather stupid or foolhardy for him to try and go off on his own.

He wasn't really planning on being captured again in all truth, "I-I don't really know to be honest. To be honest, I rather like it here, it's certainly different from my previous crew."

Oh yeah, Gin used to be a pirate member of another crew. Probably the reason why the Marines were after him, "Nice to know that you've grown fond of us after hanging around for so long...but just so I said, we are so not pirates. No where near that sort of description. We haven't done anything pirate-y to be honest."

The former first mate of the Krieg Pirates raised his hands, "You don't have to try and convince me about it."

Naruto wasn't trying to convince anyone about anything. He really wasn't a pirate though. At best, he was a fugitive, "Well, whatever. If you want to stay, you're more than welcomed to. You're already one of the crew and Luffy and the others think well of you, so you're pretty fine in my books."

Gin wondered if he would think the same thing if he learned that the rest of the world knew him as the 'Demon'. He could only smile, "I'll take that to mind."

XxX

(Marine HQ – Marineford)

"Vegapunk, those new creations of yours, do they need a test run?" A tall middle aged man with round glasses, a long braided beard and a cap on his head with a life-sized eagle spoke into a Den-Den Mushi.

He went quiet for a moment as he received a response from the other side of the line before speaking again, "Then consider this a useful field test then. I'm sure you'll get valuable research data from this test." A muffled voice could be heard responding to his words before he spoke again, "Always knew you were a practical man, Vegaunk. The place? Mock Town." With that, he slammed the receiver down and leaned back into his seat.

He was quiet for a moment before turning his head to look in the direction of another man that was seated on a sofa in his rather large ornate office. Sitting rather easily on the sofa and eating some cracker from a pack was a tall, broad chested man with grey hair and bearded and a scar over his left eye, "Don't you have work you should be doing, Garp?"

Garp stopped for a moment from taking a bite from the crackers in his hand to look at the man who had spoken to him, "Hm? You say something Sengoku?"

A tick mark formed on Sengoku's head as he looked at his old time comrade, "I know you heard what I said!"

Garp grinned widely at the reaction from his superior officer. It was always nice making the Fleet Admiral of the Marines squirm in his seat, "No, not really. So what's with Vegapunk? What do you need his toys for?"

"The representatives from Jaya have finally gotten enough of the pirates that call Mock Town home. They want it gone."

Garp stroked the beard around his chin in slight thought, "Bit of an overkill isn't it? I mean, most of the pirates in that place are harmless."

"They are still pirates, Garp. They are a threat to the world order and lawful abiding citizens of the world. It's about time that place was taken care off anyway." And it would make great press news, of course after making sure that the place had been secured by Marines.

He had to make sure nothing of the Marines secret weapons would be disclosed. Vegapunk's creations could very well finally give the Marines traction when it came to finally putting some order into the New World, even if that was well into the future.

It also didn't hurt that they also had another brilliant individual who was steadily increasing the combat abilities of the Marines...even if Sengoku didn't like the man or some of his methods. There was something about that bastard that rubbed him off the wrong way.

He supposed it was a good thing that all the man wanted from the Marines were the vast quantity of prisoners from Impel Down. That he didn't mind giving over, even if that wasn't his call to begin with. The place had been getting steadily over filled over the years.

But orders were orders, and until stated other wise, he would have to continue working with the man, even if he made his skin crawl.

XxX

(With Naruto and the Others)

"I'm guessing that's Jaya." Naruto said as he squinted in the direction of an island in the distance.

Nojiko looked up from the map she was holding in her hand, casting the Log Pose a quick look as she did so, "Bang on the money, Naruto-kun." She said before going back to her map.

"What? Are we finally near land? Great. I sometimes forgot how much I hate sailing and why I never liked the thought of being a pirate in the first place." Paula said as she made her way towards the two, her hands on her hips, swaying as she did so. With her, was both Pell and Gin.

Naruto cast a dry look in the direction of the approaching former assassin, "Not a pirate. Who says I'm a pirate? Not me for certain."

Paula had an amused look about her as she brought out a newspaper from somewhere...how she actually got the newspaper was beyond Naruto. They had certainly hadn't stopped at any island to get any form of newspaper, "The World Government says so, and trust me, that's all that matters. If they say you're something, you _are_ something." She said as she opened the newspaper to a particular page before passing it over to him.

Naruto grabbed the newspaper out of Paula's hands and began to read it over, his eyebrows furring deeper into face as he did so. Nojiko took a quick glance of what had been reported and raised an eyebrow, "Naruto-kun never robbed anyone." She said when she noticed some of his listed crimes.

"King Cobra gave you and the Straw Hats rewards for helping us with Crocodile's attempt at the throne," Pell said, speaking up for the others to hear him, "But the problem is, you're pirates, even if you say other wise, you are still pirates in the eyes of the World Government. King Cobra just can't go around giving pirates rewards, especially if people start asking _why_ he is rewarding pirates in the first place."

"So he says I _robbed _and_ raided the _palace?" Naruto said in outrage, "This is nothing more than slander to ruin my good name! I'll sue him for this!" The blonde ranted as he crumbled up the newspaper in his hands and continued to mutter obscenities at his good name being ruined.

Paula watched all this with nothing more than mirth in her eyes. Uzumaki Naruto was nothing if not entertaining, perhaps this whole not-a-pirate thing was going to be worthwhile at the end of it all? "You also managed to get yourself a new bounty. Well done."

Naruto just stopped, "I got a new bounty?" He quickly straightened out the newspaper and flipped through the pages before a wanted poster fell out. He was able to grab it whilst it was still in the air before it hit the deck and took a quick read of it and a pleased smile came onto his face, "Awesome! It increased! Why, I have no idea though!" Conveniently forgetting that he had supposedly raided the treasury of an important World Government nation.

Nojiko quickly took the poster out of his hands and took a look at it, "85 million beli? Wow, that's a lot. Why are you so pleased to have a bounty anyway? Isn't this supposed to be bad?" She asked her blonde captain after lowering down the poster.

Naruto laughed sheepishly at the question, "Well, having a bounty is sort of like a mark of pride when it comes to ninjas. It's basically sort of like the world and the powers that be acknowledging you as pretty good." Still though, he hadn't been at this whole seeing the world thing and he already had a bounty of 85 million? What was that in ryo anyway? Cause that was a lot of money to simply be throwing around.

Hell, he doubted the Bingo Book had many ninjas that were had a bounty of over one hundred million within it's pages.

Unless you were pretty badass like a Sannin or something like that.

"Just so you know, that Straw Hat kid you're friends with has got a bounty of a hundred million." Paula told them.

"No." Naruto dully responded. How could Luffy have a bounty of a hundred freaking million!? He was no where near as dangerous as he was! "Okay, seriously, who comes up with this shit? I'm more dangerous than Luffy."

Gin threw his own two cents into the conversation, "Luffy beat Crocodile. He beat a Shichibukai. That means a lot to the World Government. The Shichibukai are people you are not supposed to beat."

"I _beat_ that guy as well."

"But Luffy was the one to put him down. You merely blew him away." He saw the pointed look Naruto was giving him and Gin shrugged his shoulders, "Just saying."

Naruto took a moment to take in a deep calming breath of air. He exhaled and relaxed, "You know what? I don't even care. So what if Luffy is worth fifteen million beli more than me? It doesn't really mean anything. I can still kick his ass." That would have been more believable to people around if the smile on his face didn't look so strained.

Konohamaru came up, with Silk just behind him, "What's with this impromptu gathering? Something happen?"

"Naruto's bounty increased." Nojiko informed the two youngest members of the crew.

"Ha. Awesome. Did mine increase?" He asked, genuinely interested.

The dark-blue haired of the women around was the one to answer him as she shook her head, "No. Yours is still the same old seventeen million it was before. Although it seems me and the 'Kijin' over there finally got ourselves bounties."

Gin rolled his eyes at the mention of his epithet, "Only five million. I suppose that's pretty decent for a pirate from East Blue, considering everything else."

"And do you know what that means?" Paula asked as she looked around. The others shook their head, "It means I'm the third most dangerous person on this little crew according to my own bounty of a cool fifteen million. Isn't that lovely?" She finished with a laugh. She supposed it was just about time, after all with Crocodile's status as a Shichibukai revoked, she wasn't afforded the protection of being his underling.

Pell looked at the laughing woman with curiosity, "What did you do to gain such a bounty in the first place?"

She glanced at him, "Nothing legal, that's for certain." She wasn't really going to tell him about her past with Baroque Works just yet. Maybe after a few bridges had been built, then reinforced several times over.

"So anyway, to bring this little impromptu crew meeting to a close, I now have a bigger bounty than before," Although it was awfully not accurate of what he was capable off, "Gin and Paula also now have their own bounties. Let's all give them a clap of hands." Naruto finished as he clapped his hands only to see that he was the only doing it. He stopped and looked around, "...You guys are lame. Anyway, land a-hoy and all that stuff." He finished thumbing into the distance.

The others turned in the direction of the island that was in the horizon. The moon was slowly travelling across the sky and bathed the island in shadow. Pell narrowed his eyes for a moment, "I think I see...pirate ships? Yes. Definitely pirate ships." The others turned to look at the falcon-man with amazed looks. That certainly made the man uncomfortable for a moment, "What?"

"How the hell can you see that far away? Even I can't see that far away!" Naruto said in wonder.

"One of the benefits of the fruit I ate." The desert warrior revealed, "I've always had good eyesight, even as a child. It just got better when I ate the _Tori Tori no Mi: Model Falcon_."

Silk looked towards the direction of the island they were making their way towards, "So you saw pirate ships in the dock? How can pirate ships dock so openly? That's just asking for trouble isn't it?"

"That's probably Mock Town." The assassin of the crew informed them, "That place is filled with nothing but pirates, pubs, stores and more pirates. Every one of them thinking they are some sort of something for having made it this far in the Grand Line."

"Been here before then I take it?"

She shook her head, "Oh goodness, gracious no. Some of our agents have been though, if I had been there, more than likely Mock Town would be nothing more than a ghost town." Especially if she had been there with her former partner. Daz Bones did not take kindly to fools of any kind.

Konohamaru laughed, "Sounds like a fun place."

Paula continued to have that almighty calm look she always had on her face, although this time, there was a hint of amusement on her expression, "Just expect a lot of people to be starting a lot of fights over a whole lot of nothing." She looked around the crew members before shrugging her shoulders, "You know what? I think you will all be fine one way or another. Every one of the pirates on that island are chumps and you guys are plenty strong enough to end whatever trouble they start."

XxX

(Mock Town – Island of Jaya)

Having docked their ship among the other myriad of ships in the port, nearly everybody aboard had decided to embark. All except for Pell. He had chosen to stay behind as he reasoned someone had to protect the ship whilst everyone else went on land.

That and the fact that he wasn't much of a fan when it came to pirates. Sure, he respected the Straw Hats but they were the people that had protected Vivi and had helped save his country and for pirates, they didn't act all that much like pirates.

And Naruto was not a pirate, even if the World Government said other wise, so that was a moot point.

This left Naruto, Konohamaru, Silk, Paula, Gin and Nojiko going ashore in the aforementioned Mock Town. They had to admit, the place somewhat deserved it's name. It looked like a resort town, but if it wasn't for the pirates they could see running around, it would have been a different thing altogether.

Speaking of pirates, all of them seemed to have been going in the direction of a large clock town that was located in the centre of the town. Wondering what was going on, Naruto grabbed one of them by the shoulder to ask some questions, "What's with everybody? Something happening?" He asked, waving to all the pirates running in one direction.

The pirate seemed annoyed that he had been grabbed and after struggling to escape from Naruto's iron grip, he relented and glared at Naruto as he answered, "There's a fight going down."

"All this for a fight?" Silk asked, a delicate eyebrow raised, "I thought fights were something of a norm around here."

The pirate had a tick mark form on his head, "A fight between Bellamy 'the Hyena' and that Straw Hat kid!"

"Luffy's in a fight?" Naruto said.

Konohamaru palmed his face, "Of course he is a fight. I doubt Luffy can go anywhere without starting a fight. Still though, what's the big deal? It's still a pirate on pirate fight."

The pirate that was still in Naruto's grasp had an annoyed look on his face, "Look, I don't know the specifics, but that Straw Hat kid has a bounty of a hundred million," He stopped for a moment to chuckle at something, "A hundred million, can you believe that? The kid probably faked it to increase his own notoriety. Everyone's just going to go see him get his ass beaten by Bellamy. Now can I go?"

Huh, who would have guessed, a pirate asking if they can leave. Who knew they had manner? Naruto released his grip on the man and he quickly joined the rest in running towards the clock tower.

"This is something that I have to see." Naruto remarked as he began to make his way towards the clock tower.

With nothing better to do, the others joined him as they made their way towards the clock town like the rest of the pirates. As they entered the square the tower was located in, the top of the tower was destroyed, letting a big part of the building fall down to the ground, having several pirates scrambling to avoid the falling debris.

Other pirates scrambled when they saw a human figure falling down at them. The figure landed easily enough on the ground vacated by the pirates to reveal Luffy with a rather serious look on his face.

"Spring Hopper!"

The others had their attention taken when a man started to rebound of the local geography with what seemed to be like springs for feet and with each rebound he made, his speed increased until to the untrained eye or to people who were not used to such speeds, he had all but disappeared from sight. The area was also filled with a continuous sound of springing that had something of a disorienting effect.

"Man," Silk began as she tried to cover her ears, "That's annoying." Or in this case, instead of disorienting, served as an annoyance to others. She looked at the captain of the crew, "So who do you think is going to win?"

"Luffy." Naruto and Konohamaru answered at the same time without any form of doubt in their voices. Hands down, Luffy would win against this guy. No questions about it.

"What did you say?" The other turned their heads to see a tall man with shoulder length, blue wavy hair growl at them. He had his arm around a blonde haired woman, "What sort of country bumpkins are you? Do you know who that is? That the Bellamy, the Big-Shot rookie and you think some random kid who forged his own bounty is going to win?" He sneered them before laughing, "There's no end to fools lately in this place, is there? You're lucky I'm feeling pretty good right now, or I'd have put you in your place."

Silk looked at the man as he turned away from them to look back at the fight before turning to ask the others, "What's his problem?" And who the hell was he anyway? He was obvious a pirate, but did he have to be such a dick?

The others could only shrug for an answer as they went back to watching the fight between Luffy and the still bouncing around Bellamy.

"That old man and those monkey's are idiots, just like you!" Bellamy taunted as he bounced from building to ground to building, building up even more momentum and force as he did so, "They're idiots who believe in 400 year old lies made up by bluffing ancestors!" He laughed as he continued to bounce all over the place, "Golden City, Sky Island, the Age of Dreams is over! All of you idiots are just shameful pirates!"

Surprisingly, Luffy didn't react to the taunts and insults being thrown his way as he raised a single hand up, "You asked if I knew how to punch right?"

"Kill him, Bellamy! A fool like that doesn't deserve to live!" The blue haired man from before yelled out.

Having built up the necessary speed and power he needed, Bellamy launched himself at Naruto with a fist cocked back, "Farewell, Straw Hat kiddo."

When he got close, Luffy landed one power and vicious punch that sent smashed him straight into the ground. It was a complete One Hit K.O. and everyone was stunned as they looked at the unmoving form of Bellamy with Luffy standing over him.

The blue haired guy from before, more than likely a crew member of Bellamy's seemed to have been in something called denial despite what he was seeing, "H-Hey Bellamy, quit fooling around would you? Hey! Are you trying to play us or something?"

Gin observed Bellamy for a moment and even he could tell that the pirate was out of it and wouldn't be standing up anytime soon, "I don't think shouting at him is going to do you any good. That punch knocked him out. Best to throw water on him, or see to medical attention."

The pirate from Bellamy's crew glared at Gin before going back to shouting at the unmoving Bellamy, "Hey Bellamy! Stop acting like a retard and show us the stuff like you usually do! You're the fucking Super Rookie with a bounty of 55 million!" He stopped when a piece of paper flew into his face. He removed it from his face and he went pale as he read what was on it.

Luffy turned to the pirates, specifically the ones that were around the blue haired guy, "Mister's gold! Give it to me!"

With those words being uttered from his mouth, the pirates that had been hanging around to see a thrashing immediately scattered as they realised that they were completely and utterly outmatched.

Luffy blinked when he saw some people he recognised and his face spread into a wide grin, "Ha! You guys!" He shouted as he waved at Naruto and company.

Naruto and the others made their way towards him, "Yo, Luffy. You sure took that guy to town. Where are the others though, they around?" The blonde ninja asked as he looked around.

Luffy gave a simple nod, "Oh yeah, they're with the Mister. We're going to Sky Island."

"Sky Island?" Nojiko repeated, "I haven't seen anything on the maps about a Sky Island." She had memorised the islands on the Grand Line by now that she could name every single island on the map and none of them said anything about a Sky Island.

Luffy merely pointed up, "Because it's in the sky!" He then blinked before panicking, "Oh no! I have to hurry! Talk later!" He immediately ran into one of the pubs.

Paula watched the trail of dust that Luffy had kicked up running into the pub slowly disperse, "I still can't believe that kid beat Crocodile." It was just too silly to even comprehend. One of the feared Shichibukai being beaten by a kid who seemed a few screws loose in the head.

"Luffy's going to be bloody powerful in the future." Naruto said, but he wasn't just saying it for the sake of saying it. He was saying it because he knew Luffy had the potential to be one of the strongest people in the world. Hell, the guy was now beating up Grand Line pirates for shits and giggles when a few months before, he had been fighting pirates in the East Blue.

That was some scary lightning fast growth enough to put the scare into anyone who knew what he was about a few months back.

The young Straw Hat wearing pirate eventually came back out of the pub with a holding a sack around his neck, "Alright, found it."

The man from before, seemingly still having some trouble at computing what he had seen tried to start something with Luffy when he saw him coming out of the pub with the gold that they had stolen from those monkey's "You just got lucky, kid!" He tried to walk towards Luffy but one of his crew members with an inkling of sense was holding him back, "We won't loose to a bunch of fantasy chasing idiots! Well, Straw Hat, where are you going?"

Luffy stopped, "Where?" The man fell to his back side at Luffy addressing him. Luffy then pointed to the sky and replied to the question he had been asked with a single word, "Sky." He began running off into the outskirts of the island, "Alright, see you later guys!"

"Bye, Luffy!" Nojiko waved after him. Lowering her hand to her side, she looked at the others, "So what now?"

"Now?" Naruto looked around, "Well, it's late and I doubt there's anything interesting happening anymore...I don't know about you guys, but me? I'm going to go back to the ship and sleep." With that, he turned around and began to make his way back to said ship.

"Hm, I wonder if there any shops around, or a blacksmith." Gin wondered as he looked around before beginning to walk off, "I'll see you guys back on the ship."

That left Konohamaru, Paula, Nojiko and Silk as the remaining crew members in the square, along with the rest of the Bellamy pirates as they crowded around their fallen captain, "Muret!" The woman with the blonde hair underneath a red bandana, "You're the doctor, do something!"

A rather curvy female with shiny pink hair done into a bun with one part going down made her way through the crowd of pirates to Bellamy's side and began to give him a look over, "Don't shout at me, Lily. It's not my fault that Bellamy got himself k.o'd by that guy." Really, they should have taken those wanted posters with a bit more truth to them than they did. It didn't take long for her to do her job before getting back to her feet, "He's fine. Just knocked out cold. He'll have a hell of a headache though." That punch looked like it hurt and he had hit the ground rather hard as well.

He still had a fist imprint on the side of his face. God, where did a monster like Monkey D. Luffy come from? Jaya was supposed to be their turf.

"You're a doctor?"

Muret blinked when she had someone address her. She turned and saw four people from the group that seemed to be chums with Luffy, "I am, what about it?" She asked, crossing her hands underneath her rather considerable bust.

Paula smiled as she sauntered her way closer to the group. Some amusement flashed through her eyes when she noticed some of the other pirates take a step back at her approach. It seems even being associated with Luffy, even in the way that she was, was more than enough to give some people pause.

She stopped a few short ways of the pink haired doctor, "Well, we need a doctor. You're a doctor. Want to join our crew?"

Sarquiss had, had enough. He stepped forward, drawing out his kukri-like blade and holding it menacingly in front of him as he stepped forward, "Who the hell do you think you are? Muret is _our_ doctor. She isn't going anywhere!"

Paula observed the man for a moment, taking in his ridiculous clothing that consisted of a white furred coat, some golden chairs around his neck finished off with a red and white pants and gloves with a gold belt tied around the pants. She also noticed the tattoo of the crossed out smiley on his bare chest.

She had seen that symbol somewhere before, but she couldn't exactly place it. Well, she might remember about it, or she might not. It didn't matter. She put a hand on her hip, "Want to fight over her?" She offered.

Sarquiss was taken back, "I'm 'Big Knife' Sarquiss! A pirate with a bounty of 38 million and you want to fight me? I don't even know who you are!"

The female assassin did a rather extravagant flourish and bow as she introduced herself, "People call me Paula, and unfortunately, I have a lowly bounty of only fifteen million."

At her telling Sarquiss and the rest of the conscious Bellamy Pirates her bounty, they started laughing, "Fifteen million!?" Lily guffawed. If that was the case, this was going to be easy. She wasn't a monster like Straw Hat, "Sarquiss, cut her up!"

Sarquiss didn't need to be told. He was still pretty angry about the whole thing between Bellamy and Straw Hat, and this was a good way to vent some anger. He leapt at Paula spinning vertically, turning himself into a human buzz-saw with his blade held out, "Kyokuri (Big Chop)!"

Paula watched the attack coming at her with a smile on her face. It was probably one of the most one dimensional attacks she had ever seen outside of Miss Valentine. It wasn't even that fast, "Oh, that's so cute, Double Stinger!" Paula turned her hands into spikes before rapidly stabbing at the airborne Sarquiss.

His attack had left him open to a counter-attack with no-way for him to defend himself, "Gah!" He cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, blood pouring out of the holes that Paula had made from her attack.

"She's an ability user!" Some of the pirates cried out, some even going as far as to turn tail and run, "First Bellamy, now Sarquiss? We're done for if we stay here! Run!"

Konohamaru watched as more than half of the Bellamy Pirates scattered into Mock Town, scrambling over each other to get away from this place as fast as possible. He shook his head, "That's some loyal crew he has there."

"They are pirates." Silk said with a shrug of the head, "I don't think loyalty has anything to do with it. You have to be pretty selfish to be a pirate in the first place." Then again, the Straw Hats were different...so she supposed that generalisation didn't make all that much sense at the end of the day.

Paula had her hands on her hips as she looked down at the whimpering and shaking Sarquiss, "Something you should know about the Grand Line, boy. Someone could have a low bounty but still be stronger than someone with a higher bounty than themselves." She let a laugh escape her lips, "I mean, my captain has a bounty lower than Straw Hat's and I'm pretty positive that he's able to kick his ass from here to the moon and back, without breaking a sweat."

Sarquiss stopped his whimpering for a moment to look up at her with watery eyes, "Who the fuck is your captain, you bitch?"

She should have just killed him then and there for the lack of respect, but they were children watching. So she just smiled, "Uzumaki Naruto." She looked up at the remaining Bellamy Pirates, "Oh good, you're still here. You can patch him up as well too if you want, up to you really. I don't really care all that much." She said to the doctor who was looking at her with wide eyes. Paula hummed in thought for a minute, "It takes four days for a Log Pose to reset at this place, so you have four days. Our offer still stands, if you feel like actually hanging around with a _real_ crew of somebodies, join us. We'll be at the harbour, you can't miss our ship. It's orange."

Paula looked on for a moment as she saw a quick nod come from the doctor before turning and began to make her way back to the harbor and to their ship. The others joined her as it didn't seem like anything interesting was going to happen again and it was rather late.

Nojiko glanced back in the direction of the Bellamy Pirates as they disappeared in the distance as they turned down another street, "Did you just make an offer for someone to join our crew?" She asked Paula.

"I did, problem?" The assassin asked as she glanced at Nojiko.

The blue-haired gunslinger was quiet for a moment before shaking her head, "No. Not really. We do need a doctor, but who's to say she'll join us?"

The other blue haired femme of the group laughed. The blue haired femme that Nojiko was addressing in the first place, "Because unlike those bunch of idiots, we aren't all bluster. If she hanged around with them for too long, she was bound to get herself killed one way or another. In fact, you might consider this me doing her a favour that could very well save her life."

"It also helps that's she's pretty hot." Silk elbowed Konohamaru hard in the ribs at his comment. The teenager glared at the swordswoman from the corner of his eyes, "What? I'm not going to lie through my teeth and say she isn't when she is! That's not me dammit!"

The blonde haired swordswoman rolled her eyes as they continued to make their way back to the harbour, "You are a pervert." She declared simply. Naruto was a pervert as well, but at least he was less of an obvious pervert than Konohamaru.

The ninja just cast Silk a dry look as the older women laughed, "If being a healthy teenage boy means being a pervert, then yes, I'm a pervert."

"Oh god..." Silk groaned as she palmed her face, "I can't believe you just said that." That wasn't an excuse for being a pervert. There was no justifiable excuse for being any sort of pervert.

It was a good thing then that she didn't know of both Naruto and Konohamaru's pervert ninjutsu. She might as well have lost it at seeing that particular brand of 'ninjutsu', effective as it can be.

XxX

(Next Morning)

Naruto stepped onto the top deck and let loose a long yawn in the morning light. He took a look around to take in his surroundings. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and in Mock Town in front of them, he could hear the clatter of pirates making a raucous.

At the front of the ship, he also took note of Pell training by himself, and judging by the amount of sweat that drenched the rather muscular man's body, he had been going at it for a while now. Naruto then took in something else that made him wonder whether he was still dreaming or it was merely a trick of the eyes.

He decided to get the opinion of someone with better eye sight than himself, "Morning Pell." He said in greeting as he waved at the older man who he was walking towards.

Pell took a moment to stop swinging his sword to return the greeting and catch a breather. He had been doing this for a while now, "Uzumaki-san, good morning." Something akin to amusement flickered across his face when he saw the slight twitch of the eyebrows when it came to the honorific that had been added to his name.

The blonde ninja took a moment to compose himself before pointing off into the distance, "Right, since you are the guy with the superhuman eye sight, correct me if I'm wrong, but is that a pillar of water rising into the clouds."

"Pillar...?" Pell repeated confused before turning around to take a look at what Naruto was pointing to. And to see his surprise, yes, Naruto was indeed pointing in the direction of what seemed to be a rather large pillar of water rising into the clouds, perhaps even beyond them, "Yes. You seem to be correct, because that is indeed a pillar of water rising into the sky."

"Huh, the world sure is weird." Hold up, didn't Luffy say something about going to the sky last night? Naruto looked at the pillar of water that seemed to even reach the clouds above, "...Nah, there's no way..." But then again, the entrance into the Grand Line was a river that went up a mountain. Naruto threw his hands into the air, "You know what? I don't even care anymore."

Pell watched with some amusement as the blonde muttered to himself as he walked off. Before going back to his own training, he noticed that Naruto was making his way off the ship. Well, not that he cared for where he was going, but some of the others might care, "Going somewhere?"

"Just heading into town. See what's up and everything." The captain of the ship replied.

That was good enough for Pell as he went back to his own training. Naruto was a big boy, he could take care of himself and from what he heard last night, he doubted there was anyone in town that could actually pose a threat to the blonde.

If there was, he would eat his turban, then and there.

XxX

(Elsewhere)

A large man with a stocky build similar to that of a sumo wrestler stood in the hold of a Marine battleship, looking at the weapons that were being prepared for the soon to be coming operation. Taking a moment to take in the size of the machines, machines that dwarfed even someone as large as him, he realised that by the end of it all, more than likely Mock Town would have little to no pirates left.

In all honesty, he should have been with Vegapunk protecting him as his duty as his bodyguard and the captain of the Science Unit, but Vegapunk had wanted someone he could trust and understand the workings of the Pacifistas to make sure that everything went smoothly.

Initial tests had shown that the Pacifistas worked to perfection, but in Mock Town there were some notable bounties that might prove a problem. Recent reports had also indicated that Uzumaki Naruto was also on the island.

Taking his head, especially after what he had done in Alabasta would surely bring a lot of renown to the Marines, especially for one of the youngest Marine killing pirates around.

"We'll be reaching Mock Town soon," He told the stuff that were making final checks on the secret weapons, "The Pacifistas should be ready for combat the moment we make port!"

XxX

They had been hanging around Jaya for a couple of days now. In truth, they would have rather left as soon as possible, but they had to wait until the Log Pose did it's thing and reset, luckily for them, today was the last day. The entirety of Naruto's crew was seated in a pub, a pub called Teddy's and for several tables around them, no-one, not even single one pirate was seated anywhere near them.

The place was also deathly quiet. Like seriously no sound at all.

It seemed as if everyone was walking on egg shells, why, they didn't have a clue. Konohamaru looked around at the pirates that quietly whispered among themselves, some of them caught him looking at them, they went pale white before quickly rising and leaving the pub. He cocked his head to the side, "Okay, what's going on? It's like they have all seen a ghost or something."

Paula was rather enjoying the spectacle that their now recognised notoriety brought them in the town. Whatever stranglehold the Bellamy Pirates had on the town had quickly been replaced by their very presence, "I think word of our darling captain has spread throughout the town. After all, word has it that Luffy was able to make his way towards Sky Island." She was still stumped by that. Who knew such a place existed? Once again, the Grand Line had thrown something complete out of the blue and caught her by complete surprise.

Naruto rubbed at his chin as he looked around, watching with some amusement as any whispering that had been happening on the tables his eyes rested on went immediately quiet, "So you're telling me, just because of my bounty, no-one wants to mess with me?" Paula gave him a simple nod, "Huh, awesome." Although the fact that people would consider Luffy stronger than him thanks to his stupid bounty that was higher than his, it was still nice seeing people respect his awesomeness.

Gin blinked for a moment as he remembered something. He looked at Naruto rather sheepishly, "Naruto-san, I know this is rather out of the blue and everything, but I was wondering if you could lend me some money?"

"Okay, why?"

"Right, I commissioned a weapon smith to make a custom weapon for me." Gin told the blonde ninja, "I sort of need money to pay the man for the weapons."

Shrugging, Naruto went into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, "Sure, why not? I mean, you did help out with the whole Baroque Works thing back in Alabasta. So some of that reward that Cobra gave us, is rightly yours as well. So how much do you need right now? I'll give you the rest when we get back on the ship. Noji-chan, make sure to remind me."

Nojiko hummed as she cleaned her revolvers, "Will do, Naruto-kun." Yeah, she was definitely his Chief of Staff. The person who actually made him do things and reminded him to actually do his job as captain of a ship that was not a pirate ship despite what everyone, even the powers that be were saying.

Gin didn't answer at first as he stared at the rather...unusual wallet that Naruto had pulled out. Was that a green toad wallet? Yes, yes it was. Not really wanting to question why a near grown ass man would be walking around with a wallet that seemed more at home with a pre-pubescent teen, Gin decided to just get on with it, "200,000 beli." Especially if that man could destroy him without even trying.

Naruto flipped open Gama-chan before raising his eyes to look directly at Gin. 200,000 beli? Yeah...Gama-chan didn't hold that much amount of money. Closing his wallet and putting it back into his pocket, he bit his thumb to draw blood before wiping it at a seal matrix on his wrist. A puff of smoke later, Naruto was holding a stack of bills. He slid them in the direction of Gin, "Alright, that's about 500,000 beli in that stack alone. Go wild."

Gin grabbed the money and was quick to count it. Not that he didn't trust Naruto to short-hand him, but it was more out of instinct than anything else. He nodded before pushing his chair back and getting up, "I'll probably see you guys back on the ship." He said as he turned to walk away, "And Naruto-san?"

"Hmm?"

"Consider me a member of the crew."

"Awesome."

With that, Gin left the pub now officially an official crew member rather than passenger.

Silk hummed as she rested her head on her arms that were placed on the table between them, "Is that one of those seal things again?" She asked. She had seen him seal stuff before into those strange symbols and drawings. They looked pretty useful and were a great way of saving space. Naruto gave her a nod, "Man, I wish I knew how to use that stuff. I hope I learn how to use this chakra stuff." Her eyebrows raised up in alarm over a thought about those seals of Naruto's, "Just a quick question, you don't keep our treasure sealed on you, do you?"

Naruto scoffed at the question, "Of course I do. I mean seriously, I'm the safest safe on the planet. Leaving your money in my hands is about as safe as you can get."

"What if you die?"

"That's a stupid question. Why? Cause I'm not going to die."

Pell shook his head at that particular statement, "That's a stupid statement, Uzumaki-san. No-one is immortal. Everyone can die."

"Well yeah, maybe in like, I don't know, a century or something like that." He was going to be pretty long-lived, cause genetics and all that. So yeah, dying wasn't really all that much of a thing for him...until he was Hokage of course. It would rather suck if he died before then.

They went quiet for a moment when they heard the sound of a bell seemingly being rung. It rang for a couple more moments before it stopped. After the bell had rung, the crew didn't pay it anymore attention, "Huh, weird." Silk muttered. She had been around Mock Town and she hadn't seen anything resembling a bell tower, so where did that come from?

No-one seemed as curious as her about the bell, so she simply decided to forget about it. It probably wasn't important anyway.

A commotion could be heard coming from outside, gaining the attention of the others as they turned their heads in the direction of the exit, "What's happening?" Nojiko asked as she holstered her revolvers.

She was answered by a random pirate busting into the place, holding the door open, "Doflamingo's in town!"

"_WHAT!?_" All the pirates who knew who Doflamingo was, that was everyone in the pub excluding Naruto and Konohamaru shouted as chairs were thrown to the floor as people stood up or fell to the floor flat on their butts in shock.

"What the hell is he doing here?"

"Why are monsters suddenly coming here?"

"Fuck this man, I'm leaving this place! Mock Town ain't the place it used to be!"

The two clueless ninja looked around as pirates started quickly heading for the exit, although not all of them were intent on leaving. Some where actually intent on seeing this Doflamingo guy in the flesh.

Konohamaru asked the question that was both on his and Naruto's mind, "So..." He began slowly as the pub slowly but surely emptied, "Who's Doflamingo?"

"One of the Shichibukai, like Crocodile!" Pell answered with gritted teeth at the thought of Crocodile, or perhaps at the thought of Shichibukai. It was difficult to tell.

A Shichibukai? Another one of those wimps? Actually, perhaps this guy wouldn't be as wimpy as Crocodile. Naruto got up on his seat and made for the exit, "Where are you going?" Nojiko called out after him.

Naruto pointed in the direction some of the pirates that weren't heading towards the harbour were going, "To see this Doflamingo guy."

"Oh no, you're not!" Nojiko said to him her voice all stern like, especially when she crossed her arms across her chest, "You're not going anywhere. Knowing you, you're going to start a fight with this guy."

Naruto was offended, "I'm not going to start a fight with him. Is your opinion of me that low?"

"Yes." The others replied in dead-pan, even the normally respectable Pell was in on the act as well.

Naruto pointed at each and every single one of them, "You guys suck. If you're so worried I'm going to get myself into a fight, you guys can come too if you want." Konohamaru was quick to take him up on his offer as he scrambled to the older ninja's side. The blonde ninja continued to look at the others, "Anyone else?"

The sound of heels hitting the floor could be heard as Paula made her way towards the waiting Naruto and Konohamaru, "Why not? It's not everyday you run into a Shichibukai." And she was rather curious as to why a Shichibukai would bother coming all this way back in the Grand Line. From what she knew of the underworld, Doflamingo was active in the latter parts of the Grand Line, across the Red Line where the Yonkou ruled in the New World.

It was then that the strange tattoo that she had seen on that Sarquiss character hit her with it's full meaning. It was the mark of Donflamingo's pirate group. But why would someone as powerful as Doflamingo associate himself with weaklings such as that lot? It didn't make any sense.

A sense of dread over-came her when the full events of a couple of nights back came to her mind, "Huh, I think I might be in a little bit of trouble." She said quietly, rather unnerved as her calm demeanour dropped for a moment.

Naruto looked at her, "What's up?"

"Remember those pirates that Luffy was fighting when we first came?" Naruto nodded his head at her question, "Well, after Naruto beat up Bellamy, I beat up a crew mate of his, Sarquiss or something. You don't think that Doflamingo would be here to get revenge for his subordinates would he?" She asked nervously as she rubbed her arm.

Naruto had been rather eager to see this Doflamingo guy, but for an entirely different reason, but now? He was eager to see Doflamingo to actually know why he was here. If it had anything to do with Luffy or Paula, well, they might have a problem, "Seems like we'll just have to find out."

XxX

A bleeding Bellamy clutching at a wound on his chest was stood across Sarquiss who held out his kukri-like knife in front of him at something of a standoff. Sarquiss' knife had blood dripping of it.

Bellamy's blood.

"Bellamy! Sarquiss!" One of his crew members shouted out at the two fighting pirates, "Please stop it."

Sarquiss seemed to be struggling against something as he slowly turned his head to look at someone, "Why? Why are you doing this? I beg you, please stop this! Let us go!"

The pirates that were being observers to the stand-off were taken aback by the Bellamy Pirate member seemingly begging, "Why? 'Why' you asked Sarquiss? Bellamy..." A deep voice answered rather calmly, "Because you shamed my sign! Why else!?" Sitting atop a barrel was an incredibly tall, muscular man with short blonde hair and tan skin dressed in rather flamboyant clothes. He wore a pink feathered coat, a white shirt with red stripes underneath, green belt, orange pants with white stripes and orange tinted sunglasses, "Whether or not Sky Island exits, whether the Golden City is a legend or a reality. Those things don't interest me. Before you acted so foolishly, you should have listened to the opinion of others!"

"Donquixote Doflamingo...didn't he once have a bounty of over 300 million?" Some of the pirates muttered as they looked at the powerful man that was idly sitting down, "What is he doing here?"

Doflamingo peered at the bloodied Bellamy from behind his sunglasses, a grin on his face, "I don't need any street punks underneath my command!"

The powerful pirate then began to move his fingers as if he was manipulating a puppet and Sarquiss started moving towards Bellamy who wasn't moving. The first mate of the Bellamy Pirates raised his blade above his head as he cursed all the way, "My hands are moving on their own! Please, please forgive us!" He begged as he brought down his blade onto Bellamy.

"Hm?" Doflamingo hummed as his grin dropped for a moment when something cut through the air and batted away Sarquiss' blade from finishing off Bellamy. He turned his head in the direction of where the object had been thrown from.

"Boss, what the hell was that? I thought you said you weren't going to fight anybody."

"I wasn't gong to watch this bullshit, Konohamaru. And anyway, if I hadn't done it, you probably would have."

The pink feathered coat wearing man watched as the crowd of pirates parted like a biblical sea to reveal the approaching Naruto and Konohamaru who were busy arguing amongst themselves. His grin returned full force when the two ninjas made it to the front of the crowd, "Uzumaki Naruto and Sarutobi Konohamaru. What a pleasure."

"I don't think I know you." Naruto said a little bit testily as he crossed his arms. He would have to admit, he was a little bit angry at the moment. After all, the man was the kind of guy that pissed him off.

The man laughed as he stood up from the barrel he had been seating on. He tucked his hands into his pockets and when he did so, both Sarquiss and Bellamy slumped to the ground. He walked towards Naruto bowlegged style, "Most people know of me, and you don't? That's amusing. Fufufu, Donquixote Doflamingo, at your service." He introduced himself with a grand flourish and bow just a few short ways of Naruto where he had stopped.

"Yeah...if I'm supposed to know your name after all that, it's a no sell."

"You're going to make me cry."

"Tell it to someone who cares." Naruto took a moment to take a breath of air, before speaking again, "You know, I was just going to ask whether me and you were going to have a problem because of a completely different thing, but from the looks of it, me and you are going to have a problem either way." He told the much taller man. God, how tall was this guy? He was even taller than Crocodile. How did people even get that tall?

An eyebrow was raised from the older man who still had that stupid grin on his face, "Well, I don't really go about starting fights for no reason, but I suppose you might as well entertain me for now. My previous entertainment was rather boring you see."

Konohamaru looked puzzled, "Previous?"

Doflamingo indicated behind him were the unmoving Sarquiss and Bellamy were located, "Previous." He jumped back to avoid a high kick that would have clocked him straight in the face. He grinned at Naruto who was lowering his leg, "That was pretty fast. You're tougher than you look, but you're sort of outta your league here, boy."

"We'll see about that." Naruto told him, "Konohamaru, step back. This guy is out of your league at the moment."

Konohamaru didn't want to be hearing that but he nodded his head and scrambled back into the crowds to where the rest of the crew was located. One day, he would get strong enough to the point that there was no way that Naruto would be saying stuff like that to him ever again.

After all, what kind of underling would he be, if the right hand of the boss couldn't do what the boss asked of it?

"You know what, I have things to do and all that, so let's end this quick yeah?" Doflamingo offered.

"Sure, try to keep up." Naruto said before vanishing from sight in a surge of speed before appearing in front of Doflamingo and throwing a series of rapid fire punches and kicks.

"Well, you're certainly faster than any other lard in this town." Doflamingo commented as blocked punches and kicks sent his way, even trading some punches and kicks with his fellow blonde. On his face, his grin didn't even drop once, even if he had been somewhat surprised by the sheer speed that this relatively rookie pirate should rightfully move at, "You've got balls to be picking a fight with me of all people though. That deserves some sort of award, I suspect."

Naruto launched one final taijutsu assault at Doflamingo who blocked the attacks before the ninja of the two blondes decided to separate himself from the older man. Naruto crossed his arms as he looked at Doflamingo, "Wow, you can keep up with me. Awesome. You're already better than Crocodile for not having one those stupid fruit powers."

Doflamingo laughed. It was so cute that he was being compared to that dusty old lizard, "I hear you beat him back in Alabasta, but Straw Hat was the one to actually take him down. From what I can understand, you can do so much more than some itsy bitsy kicks and punches." Having some friends high in the Marine organisation gave him all sorts of information that would other wise be unavailable. Like the report that stray dog of the Marines had written after observing the battle between Crocodile and Uzumaki.

Naruto spread his hands out around him, "I'm in a town. With people in it." He deadpanned, "I'm not going to use something that could very well destroy said town now, am I?" Even if the town was normally full of pirates in it, some people actually earned somewhat legal livelihoods from all the traffic that came through here.

"Oh, isn't that sweet. You care."

"Some people would say, I care too much." With that said, Naruto launched himself at Doflamingo once again, but this time, in his left hand, he was holding a swirling blue ball of energy. When he neared Doflamingo, he thrust forward his left hand that held the ball of energy to strike the smiling, arrogant bastard with it, "Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere)!"

Okay, hold up. Some thing was wrong here.

For starters, Doflamingo should have had his face caved in from his attack.

And secondly, the man should have been send flying as well.

Yet there he was, still stood in the exact same place he had been standing with that grin on his face.

And oh yeah, Naruto couldn't move his body. Actually, he _could_ move his body, but it seemed like he was fighting against something. It was almost as if he had been caught in Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Jutsu). He stopped struggling for a moment to stare at Doflamingo, not at all amused at his current predicament, "You know what? Forget about what I said before. You have a stupid fruit ability don't you?"

Doflamingo ignored the question and was far more interested in the swirling ball of energy that was some few centimetres away from his face. He studied it for a moment because this close to his face, he could feel the energy that was in it...and he had no idea what the hell it was.

It wasn't Haki, that was for certain. He could feel Haki but this wasn't it.

"Hm, you know what kid? I think I like you." The tall Shichibukai finally said.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, "What? Sorry, but I don't play for that team."

"Fufufu, we'll see about that. But I think I'll be having you come with me." This strange energy that this Uzumaki kid was using was more than interesting. If he could find a way to weaponize it...the potential was limitless. It was a good thing that he had a mad scientist at hand firmly underneath his boot for such things.

"No chance." Naruto declared all of a sudden before landing a punch with his other hand straight in Doflamingo's face.

The Shichibukai was sent flying by the sheer force of the punch that went crashing through several buildings before stopping in the distance. The pirates that had been watching the entire fight between some relative unknown and Doflamingo had their jaws dropping to the ground at what they had just seen, "He hit Doflamingo!" And how the hell did he hit Doflamingo? It seemed as if the flamboyant man had caught him with the same thing he had caught Bellamy and Sarquiss with.

Naruto cancelled his Rasengan and studied his arm and body. His eyes narrowed when he noticed something on his body and peeled it off. He held it to the sunlight and looked at it intensely, "...Is that string?" It was very thin string, but by the looks of it, it was definitely string. Well, he supposed that answered how he controlled people.

The sound of footsteps coming from the direction that he had punched Doflamingo attracted his attention. He turned and saw Doflamingo walking through the rubble towards him, spotting a busted lip that was bleeding and his glasses having cracked. Some of his veins were bulging and his smile seemed more forced.

He continued walking before stopping right in front of Naruto, looking down at him with all the imposing might of a man who stood at 10 foot. He wiped away some blood that had trickled down from his busted lip, "...You punched me."

Naruto wasn't at all intimidated by the man, although he was a slightly bit pissed off that he had to crane his neck up to look at him properly, "Really? I meant to kick you, but it seemed my brain sent the wrong message."

Those veins on Doflamingo's head bulged some more, "I would kill you for that...but I don't have the time for this. I'm a busy man you see and I have things to do." He seemed to calm down some more as the veins disappeared. Much to Naruto's surprise, he simply took to the air with a single leap and hanged there like it was nothing...like he was flying, "I'm interested in you, kid. Naruto, right? I'll make sure you're mine in due time." He declared before turning around and flying off into the distance.

Naruto watched him disappear higher into the sky and distance with a dry look, "...Was he flirting with me?" It certainly seemed like he was flirting with him. He went back to studying the piece of string that had been holding him in place. That was some pretty powerful string. Just to break it, he had augment his own strength through a partial transformation of his right arm, although it had snapped off rather easily when he had done so..so more than likely he didn't need to go full transformation, it just made things easier.

That guy was no joke. If they had fought seriously, Naruto would need to keep on his toes.

"So did you win?" Naruto turned around to see the rest of his crew excluding Gin coming towards him, Silk having asked the all important question.

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well, I did land the only solid hit of the entire thing, so yeah. I think I won."

Apparently, that little declaration was enough to knock the other pirates that had been watching the entire thing out of the reverie they had been at the sight they had been made witness too.

"He won! How they hell did he win against Doflamingo!?"

"It was only one punch, it had to be a fluke!"

"Fluke? He sent Doflamingo _flying_!"

Naruto and his crew just watched as the pirates started arguing amongst themselves over the technicalities of his little fight with a Shichibukai, "Excuse me." Their attention was taken by a curvaceous woman with shiny pink hair.

Paula's eyes lit up in recognition, "Oh yeah, the doctor lady. Muret, right? Here to take up on our offer?"

Naruto looked at Paula confused, "Offer? What offer? I don't remember making any sort of offer."

Muret had to be crazy, that was the only thing that could explain as to why she would be willingly wanting to associate herself with pirates that had just made themselves a target of a Shichibukai, but then again, her crew was already done for. Her captain and his crew couldn't go around flying Doflamingo's Jolly Rodger anymore which meant that whatever protection they had before was now gone.

At the very least, for her chances of survival, she would at least try it out with someone who seemed capable of _hurting_ a Shichibukai. But she wasn't going to do it for free, "One thing you should know though, I'm expensive."

Although Nojiko hadn't been exactly happy with the method of recruitment that had been undertaken to get a genuine doctor's services, she wasn't stupid enough to throw her out of the door just like that. They needed a doctor and they could only rely on Naruto-kun so much, "Name it and we'll pay it."

Naruto was still confused as to what the hell was going on here, "Can someone please explain to me what is going on around here!?"

He was promptly ignored as Muret had her attention on the two blue haired women of the crew, "Ten million beli."

Nojiko responded with a nod, "Done. Naruto-kun." She said pointing at the pink haired woman, "Ten million beli, if you wouldn't be so kind."

Naruto chocked on air, "Ten _million_ beli!?" And she wanted him to just hand it out like that? Hell no. Shit didn't work like that, "Now list-."

Something exploded really close to them, launching debris, dust and smoke into the air. That something was soon followed by several other explosions happening all throughout Mock Town, destroying buildings, killing pirates and launching even more smoke into the air.

A pirate who knew what the hell was happening came running from the direction of the harbour, "It's the Marines! They're attacking us!"

Konohamaru chuckled after hearing that, "You know what? Today is turning out to be a pretty interesting day." He said as he geared himself up ready for a fight.

Silk had a hand to her sword as she eyed her surroundings, taking in all the panicking pirates that were quickly arming themselves with any weapons on their persons or nearby, "Don't say that," She groaned, "Things always get worse when someone says that. It's like common knowledge."

The chuunin scoffed, "That's utter B.S. Like how can it get worse?"

An explosion happened rather close to them that they actually had to move to safely evade the flying debris. Before jumping, Naruto had quickly grabbed Muret from the incoming projectiles that had been launched by the explosion. Thudding footsteps could be heard coming from within the smoke before a figure revealed itself.

The figure was over twenty feet tall, towering over Doflamingo himself who had been the tallest person Naruto had ever seen until then. The man had a protruding chin, a massive upper body and smaller skinny legs that should not have by all rights supported such a built, but they did nonetheless. The figure had curly, black hair underneath a grey hat that had seemed to have ears on it, giving the impression of a bear, black jackets with a cross hair design on the front, brown gloves and white pants with brown spots on them.

It seemed in one of his giant hands, he was holding a struggling pirate.

Paula instantly recognised the figure from the rooftop she had landed on and she lost her composure as her jaw hanged loose, "Bartholomew Kuma!" Seriously, what was with today? Not one, but two Shichibukai?

"The Shichibukai?" Pell asked in surprise for the others who didn't know why that name was important.

"I don't know about you, but I only know of one!" The blue-haired Spike-Spike woman snapped in the direction of the falcon man. She didn't mean to be snappish, but Bartholomew Kuma had a reputation for having being one of the most merciless pirates to ever roam the seas.

One did not become to be known as the 'Tyrant' by being a nice person.

Bartholemew Kuma looked around as he squeezed his hand, crushing the pirate that was in his grip before letting the body drop lifelessly to the ground. Solid white eyes scanned around the street were pirates were just staring at the giant of a man in surprise. After a moment, Kuma rested his sight on the group of adventurers that were located on the rooftops, "Priority targets, 'The Calamity' Uzumaki Naruto, bounty: 85 million, 'Devil Monkey' Sarutobi Konohamaru, bounty: 17 million, 'Spiker' Paula, bounty: 15 million. Orders: Immediate execution."

Naruto looked down at the Shichibukai with the rather weird way of talking, but then again, he had met a load of weird people in his life, so this wasn't new. He flipped the giant man off, "Execute? Ha, you can try asshole!" He had to duck to avoid a laser beam from behind, making Muret, who was still in his arms, let out a cry of surprise. He turned around with a glare, "Alright, who's the dea-." He stopped when he noticed at who he was staring at. He looked back behind him to where Kuma was standing and then back behind him again, "Say Paula?"

Paula still had her eyes on the Kuma in front of her, the sheer sight of the man making her care more about his presence than anyone else, "Yes?"

"Does this Kuma guy have a brother? Like a twin...or triplets or something?"

The former Baroque Works agent turned to look at Naruto with a confused look, "What are you talkin-." She stopped talking when she saw what he was staring at. It was Kuma.

Four of them.

Silk noticed the other Kumas as well and held back an irritated grumble. She told him and he still went and did it. All this was his fault, "Nicely done Konohamaru, you just went and screwed us over."

* * *

**AN: Alright, next chapter will probably be the end of the entire Jaya arc thing. So yeah, have fun. Have a nice read.**

**Raiden**


	15. Slam Dunk

**AN: Been out of practice for the better part of a year, so admittedly, this chapter might be rough around the edges as I get back into the swing of things. So yeah, here is finally Chapter 15 after so many months.**

* * *

Slam Dunk

"So there's five of them. They all look alike. Like twins, but five of them. Twins is two. Triplets is three. What's five?" Konohamaru asked as he whipped his head back and forth from the first Kuma guy that had turned up to the other four that had appeared behind them.

"Quintuplets." Muret informed him still within Naruto's grasp, her features stark pale as she was beginning to realise just what was truly happening.

"Huh, you learn something new everyday." Konohamaru hummed as he prepared for a fight. A tough one considering that apparently, this guy and his brothers were supposed to be at the same level as the Crocodile guy that had handed his ass to him back in Alabasta.

Paula was busy shaking her head in disbelief, "This can't be real. There's only one Bartholomew Kuma. Not five."

"Devil Fruit?" Pell offered as an explanation.

She clutched onto that suggestion as hard as she could, "That's possible."

"So how does that explain the laser beams then?" Silk asked, drawing her sword. They were in a bit of a pickle by the looks of things. "I'm sure you can only have one DF ability. You can't have any more. Everybody knows that."

Paula opened her mouth to answer or give some sort of rational explanation, but she really couldn't come up with anything of note to say, so she ended up closing her mouth.

Nojiko already her pistols out and was pointing either on at the Kuma in front and his 'brothers' behind her, "This isn't the time. Naruto, we seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"I wouldn't say that..." The blonde ninja remarked as he set Muret down on the rooftop, "Saying that is implying we are in a situation where everything sort of ends badly for us. It's not."

"Ever the optimist, I see."

"Got to look at the bright side of life. Being depressed all the time isn't fun." Swinging his head from the front to the back, he decided on a course of action, "Alright team, I have a game plan."

"Actually acting like a captain for the first time in your life?" Paula mumbled.

One of Naruto's eyebrow twitched but he controlled himself from retorting, "You guys take the one in the front. I'll take the four guys in the back. Alright, on three," He held out his hand, palm facing down for a little team spirit moment. "One, two-." He stopped when he noticed that the others went placing their hands on top of his, "You guys suck."

The group of pirates, immediately separated at the rooftop that they were standing on was destroyed by several laser beams from the Kumas. Naruto showed off a bit with a little spin in the air before landing behind the Kumas that had come at them from behind. He was rather glad that Konohamaru had been quick to pick up his slack and grab Muret before the roof and building they had been on had been blown to rubble.

Looking over his opponents that towered over him, he rolled out his shoulders, "You know what? You guys don't seem that tough. All you have on you is height...and laser beams, but you aren't the first person I've fought that can do that."

The eyes of the Kumas seemed to flash with light before all of them spoke in unison, "'The Calamity' Uzumaki Naruto. Bounty: 85 million. Orders: Immediate Execution."

"I know. Your brother said said the same thing. By the way, you speaking like that, and at the same time? That's really freaky. Even if you are identical brothers. No wonder people find twins really freaky. Alright, let's do this." Naruto rushed the Kuma that was at the edge of the four and jumped at him, aiming to swing a kick at it's head.

He had been expecting his opponent to be sent flying from the kick, but all he had been able to do with his kick was make it stumble sideways. Also, after kicking the Kuma, he came to realise that this probably wasn't a normal person.

It felt like he had kicked a slab of metal instead of an actual human being.

He had to quickly replace himself with a piece of rubble as the closest Kuma to him swung an open palm strike at him. Quickly appearing from the place where he had swapped with the rubble, he saw said rubble get pulverised by the palm strike.

Naruto grumbled as he shook out his leg to get some feeling back into it, "Okay, you are harder than I thought you would be." Two of the Kumas suddenly opened their mouths and immediately fired a series of laser beams straight at him, whilst the other two rushed in behind said beams at a speed that belied their huge forms.

Naruto dodged the beams before having to pirouette and weave his way through the strikes of the Kumas that had come to engage him in close combat. Every time that he escaped the attentions of both the Kumas and was about to counterattack, the other two would quickly fire beams at him to keep him off balance and the original two would then go in to attack him once more.

'Okay, so they can fight as a team. Nice.' Naruto thought as he tried to make sure that he always kept one of the Kumas that was engaging him between himself and the other two Kuma that were trying to snipe him. Ducking underneath another laser attack, Naruto decided it was time to change plans, 'Need to at least distract those two.'

When one of the Kumas tried to take advantage of his low position with a kick with it's hilariously un-proportioned legs, the kick only connected with another piece of rubble as Naruto had replaced himself once more.

The four Kumas stood still in the street that they had been fighting in as they scanned their surroundings with their solid white eyes, looking for any movement of their target.

One of the Kumas jerked suddenly as hands erupted underneath it to grab at it's ankles. "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique)!" The Kuma found itself beginning to find itself being dragged into the ground.

It quickly opened it's mouth and began to fire laser beams into the ground, with each blast causing small craters to appear. Naruto quickly released the laser beam firing man-bear, his hands disappearing underneath the ground once more.

The Kuma that was submerged into the ground tried to free itself by placing it's hand on the ground and pushing itself up. It was slowly beginning to free itself before Naruto finished it off with a punch to the head from above, his right arm glowing with a golden orange colour.

The power of his punch resulted in the head of the Kuma being completely obliterated, eyes and what seemed to be machine parts spraying all over the place instead of what he had assumed was going to be brains and blood. Well, there was some blood, but he didn't think that was actual blood considering what he had seen of what had burst out of the Kuma's head.

Naruto leapt away from the Kuma as the other Kuma's fired on his position, further destroying the Kuma that he had just attacked with their lasers.

Landing, he brought his knuckles together, his other arm taking on the same golden glow his right arm was currently showing. He had a rather toothy grin on his face. "You guys are tough, but not that tough it seems." He slid one of his sandaled feet forward, in preparation to charge at his apparently, robotic opponents. "Never fought robots before." He admitted as he clenched and unclenched golden clad fists. "Got to make sure I savour the moment." He finished before bursting forward in a zig-zag manner.

Rolling away from another explosion, Konohamaru scratched at his head. "Man that thing is tough." He muttered as he looked at Kuma who for all this time, seemed to be somehow able to fend them off.

Paula used the advantage of Kuma paying his attention on Konohamaru to come and try and land a blow from behind him. Using her powers, she extended her fingers into sharp, fine points and stabbed them forward in the direction of Kuma.

Her attack did nothing more than stop dead in it's tracks the moment it made contact. In truth, she would swear that she had hurt herself more than she had hurt the Shichibukai.

Kuma turned his head to look down at her, before turning with a large sweeping palm strike that Paula had to jump away from. "Okay, he is tough." She admitted, echoing Konohamaru's earlier words. She then had to quickly start moving as fast as possible to escape from the laser beams of death that were being directed towards her.

"Doton: Doryuheki (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall)!"

Globs of mud were spat onto the ground between Paula and Kuma, before they suddenly erected upwards to form a wall of solid earth that weathered the bombardment of laser beams. Paula flashed Konohamaru a sign of appreciation from his position on top of a pile of rubble that had been some kind of inn before a Kuma happened to it.

The earth wall started shuddering from the repeated impact of the laser beams, enough that Paula decided that it was best that she quickly moved. A good thing too, as after a couple more hits, the earth wall exploded outwards, having taken all of the hits it could take before crumbling back into dirt.

Kuma suddenly stopped firing his lasers from his mouth before raising his hands, one pointed in the direction of Konohamaru and the other one in the direction of the running Paula. From both of the palms of his hands, he quickly started firing laser beams from there as well, this time, targeting the both of them.

"This is ridiculous!" Paula yelled as she dodged and took cover as much as she could. How were they supposed to fight this guy? Everything they tried didn't do anything to him. He was far harder than any man had the right to be.

From experience, it was like hitting nothing more than a large slab of metal.

She moved out of the way of a laser that had been flying past her, only for it to hit the ground in front of her and explode, sending her flying through the air and land roughly on a pile of rubble.

"Paula!" Konohamaru cried out before he quickly had to replace himself with rubble himself to avoid getting the same treatment as Paula. He reappeared from behind Kuma, his hands holding the Snake seal before they started to take a dark colour. "Doton: Domu (Earth Release: Earth Spear)!" He threw a hardened fist straight into the back of the Kuma, sending it stumbling forward. The first time that any of them had unbalanced it in anyway.

A blonde blur rushed past him, Silk charging straight at the unsettled Kuma, sword held back as she prepared to use it to attack. Putting her entire strength behind it and using the momentum she had gathered, she swung her sword in an arc aimed at Kuma. "Dainidankai (Second Step)!" A wave of energy spewed forth from Silk's swing, travelling at a speed straight at Kuma before crashing in a resounding explosion. Silk stood up, with a look of triumph on her face. "Huh! Take that!"

The young swordswoman was stopped short in her celebrations when the dust began to clear to reveal glowing white eyes before she immediately had to dodge to avoid being pierced by those laser beams Kuma liked attacking them with.

Konohamaru shook his head as he went through hand signs. "That was weak, Silk. Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)!" Slamming his hands into the ground, the area around where Kuma was standing immediately began to soften and sludge as it was turned into a swamp that began to suck in their attacker. Kuma flailed about as it tried to escape, much to Konohamaru's amusement. "Yeah, not so fun now is it? I'll admit, you are tough. Tough as all hell, but let's see you come back from being dragged into the depths of the Earth." If it came back from that, then this guy was obviously someone so tough that it was simply ridiculous.

"You could have done this earlier." Paula said as she walked up to the edge of the swamp that Konohamaru had created, eyeing Kuma flail about with a certain, keen interest. "Saved us a whole load of trouble and pain."

Silk agreed with the older woman as she landed beside them. "Didn't you do this back at Arlong Park? I also happen to remember it ended with a very large explosion."

"Something I don't plan on repeating." Konohamaru grunted as he kept the jutsu active. Most of the time, he wouldn't really have cared for the size of the swamp, but considering that there was probably civilians in the surrounding area, he couldn't afford to be reckless with using it.

Even though he had the chakra reserves for it, he couldn't do a swamp to the scale of Arlong Park unless he was sure that no innocent would be able to get caught in his jutsu.

...Innocent? He was in a town notorious for the amount of pirates that it called home too. He doubted that there were that many innocents at all in this place. "You know what guys? I'm going to swamp the shit out of this entire area. Why don't you take a step back for a moment-." He stopped in his tracks when he noticed that Kuma had stopped flailing about. Had he given up? No, he was looking directly at them and opening his mouth and there was a glow coming from the back of his neck...that didn't seem to be a good thing. "Move! Now!" Konohamaru shouted.

The others didn't need to be told twice as they quickly vacated the area they had been standing at as Kuma fired another beam at them that they had to dodge. 'Alright, fuck this!' Going through hand signs again, his hands rested in the seal of the Tiger and he gathered chakra in his mouth before releasing it. "Katon: Ensakkai (Fire Release: Flame Murdering Boundary)!" From his mouth, Konohamaru released a large orb of flames that sped towards the demobilised Kuma in the centre of the swamp that he had created.

The orb crashed into their opponent in a large explosion and roar of flames, sending mud flying and expanding a large amount of heat over the surrounding area. Silk was the first to land, using a hand to protect her face from the heated air that had been created by the explosion. "Okay, that has to have done something, right?" Their was a tinge of desperate hope in her voice. If that wasn't enough to take care of this monster, then what the hell where they supposed to do?

The Konoha chuunin had a grim look on his face as he looked over the devastation he had caused. "Hopefully. If not, I think we are going to have to turn around and leg it."

"I am now regretting not having caught a ride on falcon man. I wouldn't mind being back on the ship right about now." Paula despaired with a sigh leaving her lips as she recalled Pell being tasked with taking their new doctor crew member away from the ensuing conflict by Konohamaru, who was effectively the First Mate of the ship she happened to have found herself upon.

"I second that motion." Silk said in agreement as she eyed the smoke from the explosion, trying to detect any sort of movement.

Konohamaru came to stand in-between them before deciding on a course of action he figured makes sense. "Okay, so the Marines are here and they have these freaky robot things fighting for them. I think it's about a good time as any to call for a tactical withdrawal."

"We are running away?" The swordswoman of the trio asked, blonde eyebrows raised up her brow.

Konohamaru crossed his arms as he looked over towards her. "We are not running away. I never run away from a fight. We are tactically withdrawing. There's a difference."

To Silk, it sounded like Konohamaru was simply trying not to admit that they were actually running away, why he just didn't admit it was beyond her. So she simply smiled and nodded her head. If they were going to beat a hasty retreat in the other direction of the monstrosity they had been fighting, that was good enough for her.

"What about Naruto?" She asked, her fellow blonde coming to mind. At that moment, an explosion could be heard coming from the direction that they had last seen Naruto gone of too to fight his batch of Kumas. "He's fighting four of those things."

Konohamaru shrugged his shoulders. "He'll be fine. The boss is pretty tough. I doubt a bunch of tin cans would be able to give him any sort of trouble." The Konoha ninja turned his back and began to make his way back to the ship. "Now come on, let's go. Unless you want to stay and find out whether that Kuma guy-thing-whatever is still alive and well."

Paula and Silk shared a look between the two of them before the older lady turned and began to follow after Konohamaru. "Well, since you are apparently my superior, I think I'm going to follow your orders."

Silk didn't need telling twice and soon followed after her two crew mates, just sparing a single glance behind them towards the smoke that hid Kuma from view before running off in the direction of the docks along with the others.

If she and the others had stayed behind a little longer, they would have seen a young man with the build of a sumo wrestler, carrying a large broad-axe step onto the battlefield that had been vacated by the trio of adventurers.

The broad-axe wielding man looked around at the destruction around him that had been caused by the battle between the Pacifista and the three crew members of what the Marine HQ had dubbed as the 'Maelstrom' Pirates. He would admit that his expectations of the pirates had not been met among several of them, but Sarutobi was certainly one to watch or if need be, taken care of quickly.

In all his time in service of the World Government, he had yet to have heard of any kind of ability to manipulate the very earth or fire by any one Devil Fruit. And apparently, the captain of that group of pirates, Uzumaki could do just as much as well.

Another explosion rang out from the direction of where he had last seen the four Pacifistas had off to fight against Uzumaki. He had been able to catch Uzumaki destroy one of them and no doubt, he was sure that the rest were currently being seen to by the blonde haired pirate.

The smoke finally let out and cleared, allowing him to see the status of PX-13 and what he saw surprised him. The Pacifista was just a little over half-submerged into the ground, the clothing on it's upper torso non-existent as it had been burned off and the cyborgs synthetic skin charred and melted in various parts across it's body.

"PX-13!" He yelled out and waited for a response from the cyborg. Dr. Vegapunk had built the Pacifistas to be the ultimate weapon for the Marines. Sure, they probably couldn't match the sheer destructive power of the higher rankings of the Marines – but given enough time, he was sure that they would eventually – but they had been created to take a large amount of damage. He was about to see for himself whether this was the limit that the Pacifistas could take.

He waited for a couple of moments for a response before giving up turning to leave, until he heard the tell-tale signs of the Pacifista rebooting it's systems.

Turning to face the cyborg, he was pleased to see that it was still functioning somewhat. Although this wasn't what they had expected when they had been given this mission, the data from this combat run would surely prove to be invaluable to Dr. Vegapunk if he so needed it.

All in all, they might have failed their main mission, but they were still able to gain the data that could help Dr. Vegapunk with his work.

"Gin!" Konohamaru shouted from the deck of the ship as he saw their other crew mate making his way towards them at full pelt before leaping onto the deck with a single leap. "Where the hell have you been?" He asked, turning to face the pirate when he landed nearby.

"I got caught up." Gin answered as he held up one of his tonfas.

Konohamaru squinted at the weapon when he noticed a speck of something near the bells. "...Is that blood?" He asked before shaking his head. "You know what? Never mind. Here, help get the ship ready to cast off. I think we are done here."

The former First Mate of the Krieg Pirates nodded his head as he placed his tonfas to the side and began making preparations to cast off from the docks and the madness that was happening in Mock Town. There ship wasn't the only one that was trying to leave the dock as fast as possible though.

He observed as dozens of ships tried to rush towards the open seas. He even watch some ships crash into each other and sink. "Everyone seems to be in a rush." He concluded.

Somewhere in Mock Town, an explosion rang out and not for the first time.

Silk came gliding down from the crow's nest to land nearby. "Can you blame them? Marines and their freaky, tough, whatever things. If you can't fight, who wouldn't run in this situation if you had a bounty on your head?"

Gin blinked in confusion at some of Silk's words, 'Freaky, tough, whatever things?' That registered nothing with him. He had fought Marines and that was it. He hadn't come up against whatever Silk was talking about.

Konohamaru ran past them carrying several ropes. "Less talking, more working!" He waved towards the helm to get Nojiko's attention. "The anchor has been pulled up neechan!"

From the helm, Nojiko nodded her head as she quickly spun the wheel about. "Good, let's get out of here!"

Paula looked around at the chaos on the docks and the waters around them. "You sure you can sail us out of this mess?" She found her apprehensiveness rather appropriate considering their surroundings.

Nojiko wasn't at all perturbed by the chaos that was happening around them. "I can." She simply declared. Naruto wasn't the only person who spent an inordinate amount of time on the helm. She did her fair share of work on this particular post as well.

"If you say so." Paula acquiesced with a shrug of her shoulders. "So what about our dear captain? Are we going to forget about him?"

"He can teleport can't he?" Pell asked coolly as he recalled the stunt that Naruto had pulled back in Alabasta. "With those kunais of his. I'm quite sure he can do that or is there some sort of distance limit?"

Although he did remember Naruto particularly saying something about him being able to teleport him to Princess Vivi's side if the situation ever arised. So distance couldn't have been a factor unless he was missing something here.

All the others looked towards Konohamaru for answers as he knew Naruto and his capabilties the most. The young ninja-slash-not a pirate stopped and cocked his head to the side for a moment. "Not to my knowledge...I think."

"That feels me with so much confidence." Nojiko said flatly as she steered their ship around the chaos as best as she could.

"What does?"

She near jumped at the sudden question, whipping her head round so quickly that she almost thought that she would have saved the Marines the trouble of trying to kill her. She turned round to face Naruto who was standing on the railing on the helm of the ship.

"Why do you do that?" She breathed out.

As amused as he was by the effect of his sudden appearance aboard his boat, he was a bit more worried that Nojiko wasn't actually paying attention to her current job. "Eyes front, Nojiko-chan." He told her, pointing towards the stern of the ship.

Nojiko didn't even need to be told to quickly turn her attention back to her current job. She shook her head and muttered words underneath her breath that Naruto didn't pick up, but he could make a guess that they involved some rather well-worded curses and rambling towards himself.

"Naruto-san." Pell greeted with an incline of the head as he stepped of the railing. Good to see that you are in fine shape. Some of us where rather worried when you decided to take on those Kumas."

"Not me!" Came Konohamaru's shout from the top deck.

Pell ignored that particular outburst.

"Well, they certainly surprised me for a bit," the blonde ninja admitted with a roll of the shoulders. "But they eventually went down. When the Uzumaki Express starts moving, there's no hope of stopping it. All you can do is just hope you are not in the way!" He finished with a grin in the direction of Pell.

Pell's lips threatened to form a smile with the twitching that was going on. "I'm sure."

"I still can't believe there are five Kumas." Paula said as a shudder went up her spine. "That is a horrifying thought to have. Just one is terrifying enough, but five?" Another shudder made itself known to her.

Naruto hummed in thought as he leaned over a nearby railing. "If Kuma is a cyborg, then yeah. Not really that tough though, so just in case, stick with me or get training and you'll be able to beat him, them, or whatever the term is. They aren't really that strong, just really fucking durable. It's just a matter of overpowering them."

"So we gotta have some insane super strength to beat this Kuma fellows?" Silk asked before shrugging her shoulders in acceptance. "Yeah, alright. That's another thing to work on."

Naruto flashed her a beaming smile. "Now that's the spirit!" He looked around and noticed that someone was missing. "Didn't we have an extra person?"

"Muret." Paula pointed towards the inner depths of the ship. "Apparently, she had far too much excitement today and decided to go take a nap."

"It was less a nap and more her fainting from the stress." Pell said. "I should know, I carried her back here."

"Look, it would be all nice and everythign if we just sat down and started having cookies and everything, but really, I'm currently so very stressed right now in making sure that our ship isn't turned into kindling by other ships, so less talking, more working!" Nojiko convinced the others ever so nicely above the hum drum of the chaos that surrounded her.

"Yes ma'am!"

The others didn't feel like finding out what Nojiko would do to them, even if she couldn't even be able to touch several of them simply because they were vastly more powerful. The alternative was listening to her chew them out and that was something that they really didn't want to deal with.

So they went to work to warn Nojiko of any potential collisions.

Some of the other ships came close into colliding with their own, but it never came to as either Naruto or Konohamaru would solve it with a quick jutsu here and there, although it was more or less left to Naruto. Konohamaru's way of solving the situation was blowing up the ship which sort of served as nothing more than a potential danger to the rest of the crew and the ship due to flying debris.

Eventually, they were finally able to get past the chaos and into the open seas, towards their next destination.

When Muret opened her eyes, she found herself waking up to be looking at an unfamiliar ceiling. She panicked for a bit as she wondered where she was and how much she had drank to wake up here of all places.

And she so hoped that nothing had happened between herself and whatever depraved pirate that resided in Mock Town or any of her own crew mates on the Bellamy Pirates. That could be a very awkward work situation that she would rather not be willing to work in.

Even if being on the Bellamy Pirates crew came with a lot of perks.

She groaned as she slid of her bed and got to her feet. She was pleasantly surprised to find that she was still very much still fully dressed, so that was good. She stopped still for a moment and noticed that she didn't have a pounding headache or any other tell tale signs of a hangover.

So she hadn't been drinking? So where was she?

The slight swaying of the room, a feeling that she had now come to realise told her that she was on a ship. A ship that was certainly not the one the Bellamy Pirates used. She would have recognised that old thing.

Grabbing a candle stand, the closest thing she had to a weapon at hand, she left the room that she had woken up in and began to make her way through the ship to find some sort of answers. She soon head the sounds of people and made her way towards them, clutching the stand closely to her chest.

She eventually followed the sounds to a large room to what she suspected was the back of the ship. Peeking her eyes into the room, she saw several characters that were vaguely familiar to her sitting around the room.

"Oh, you're awake."

Muret let out a scream as she turned around and whacked whoever had snuck up on her.

"_OW_!" Konohamaru let out as he grabbed the temple of his head. "What the hell was that about? Why did you hit me!?"

The others found themselves looking towards the door, wondering what the commotion was all about. Silk came out of the galley that was connected to the mess hall with a sandwich. "What did you do now, Konohamaru?" She asked before taking a bite out of it.

"Nothing!" Konohamaru groused as he walked into the room, still clutching at his temple. "She just up and whacked me."

"Well, you just don't surprise a person like that!" Muret said, defending herself from any vile and debase accusations. "And where am I and who are you people?"

Naruto blinked as he looked over the pink haired woman still holding the candle stand threateningly. He wondered if she knew that little thing didn't at all possess any sort of threat to them. "Paula, aren't you the one that gave her the invite?"

"That I did." The purple haired former assassin admitted as she lazed about on a Barcalounger. She lifted her head slightly to look in the direction of Muret. "Sweetie, don't you remember us? We met after Straw Hat had given your captain quite the thrashing and you accepted our offer to join our crew."

Muret looked at her with a puzzled expression. "What are you-." Then it all started coming back to her. Bellamy getting defeated with one punch by Straw Hat Luffy, an actual pirate with a hundred million berry. Someone well above their league. Then Sarquis being defeated by the very same woman speaking to her, then her offer to join them as their doctor.

Then Doflamingo happened and was bit off by the blond over there, the apparent captain of this crew.

Then after all that, she would have believed the brief insanity that she had found herself to be in the middle of, over, Kuma happened.

Several of them.

…

How was she still alive after all that?

She slumped onto the door frame. "I think I need a drink."

Paula idly flicked in the direction of the galley. "We have all the alcoholic beverage you'll need in that direction."

Muret merely nodded and made her way towards the galley. She was going to be needing a lot of drinks.


End file.
